Neon Genesis Evangelion: Guardians of the Black Moon
by Cenobia Vigantzky
Summary: If the Angels are the Guardians of the White Moon, who are the Guardians of the Black moon? And can they guide these fated souls to something other than despair? Evangelion AU: Trans!Shinji, Adult(arguably)!Pilots, Shinji/Misato/Rei (It's complicated).
1. Act 1: The Curtain Rises

Standard disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and anything related to it are trade-marketed properties of Studio Gainax and Hideaki Anno. The Bastards.

* * *

Act 1: The Curtain Rises

-Tokyo 3 Center - Middle lane.-

She checked if the overhead sign matched the map and directions on the satnav from the rented car. Never horribly wise to trust those things blindly, especially since she was never here before.

'12 years. 12 gods-damned years and the bastard asks me to come over now. ' Yuria Ikari, 21, thought absentmindedly. Picking up her phone, she thumbed over to the picture she received from a certain Misato Katsuragi, showing said woman in a red bomber jacket and a black tube dress underneath, leaning back into a seemingly brand new Renault Alpine.

'She looks amiable enough, at least. Of course, the king bastard himself couldn't actually bother to come meet me so he sends a poor lackey to do so.'

"Hey. Name's Misato Katsuragi, but you can call me Misato. I'm an employee of your father's, he can't come meet you so I will. Looking forward to meeting you. Check the photo included for reference."

Which is when Yuria's abruptly brought out from her memory, by a loud siren ringing across the city, together with all signs switching to a blaring red -EMERGENCY- warning.

With all other cars hurriedly heading to runoffs from the main highway, she suddenly found herself alone in the road before she could think to do anything.

"Well. Fan-fucking-dabey-dosey."

Without many other decent options, the young woman put the foot down on her rental car, and headed to the meeting point with her destiny.

* * *

As she looked at her wristwatch for what seemed like the umpteenth time since arriving at the entrance to the park where she was supposed to meet this Katsuragi woman, the estranged former son of Gendo Ikari noticed faint jet noises in the distance, seemingly lots of it, and growing louder by the second.

Which was the time a missile decided to rocket a few meters above her head, turning up and over the surrounding buildings, hurling from a particularly low flying VTOL craft towards an unseen enemy.

"The HELL!?"

While she looked surprised at the trail of smoke, several other missiles streaked the sky towards the same direction, causing numerous explosions in the distance. Just for a pink lance out of seemingly pure energy to trace the same sky in the opposite direction, causing another explosion, and one of the Vtols to come careening down towards Yuria.

"Crapbaskets!"

Just as she leapt to the side to avoid the worse of the crashing craft, an offensively blue Renault Alpine came screeching across an intersection nearby, and to an impossibly even more screeching halt just a meter away from the befuddled young woman, passenger door opening to reveal a certain sunglasses-wearing Misato Katsuragi.

"Yuria Ikari? In the car, NOW!"

Before Yuria could answer however, a humongous black foot stamped behind the car, shaking the very ground where she stood. And so she looked up.

And up.

And still up more, horrifyingly.

Until she saw a bony-looking, bird-like skull with black eye sockets. Black eye sockets that she would bet her life that were somehow focused on her.

Get in the car she did, faster than she ever thought a human being could move.

As Misato slammed the car in gear and launched them away from the thing with a speed that would put anything short of an aircraft carrier catapult to shame, Yuria tried to make herself remember how to breathe or blink.

In that fraction of a second, when her eyes meet the creature's, every single cell in her body screamed at her that whatever was before her should not be. It was wrong. Inexplicably wrong. The feeling it awakened within her was nothing short of existential dread. She never really believed in a higher power, but from this day forward she'd know that, if one existed, it loathed humanity and everything related to it with an undying hatred.

* * *

Misato drove towards the closest Geofront entry at breakneck speed, but as she took a long straight, used the time to look at her new passenger.

The poor young woman, waist-length black hair, wearing a shirt and pants, all black, was seemingly scared out of her wits. Eyes threatening to bulge out of the sockets, hands cradling her head, struggling to breathe and whole body shaking like a tree in a storm.

"Yuria? Yuria san? Are you ok? That thing probably scared you halfway to death. We're safe for now, don't worry."

Taking the time to regain some of her breath, the young Ikari managed to look at her and sum her thoughts in a very precise way.

"Wha- What... the ever-loving fuck... was that thing!?"

Misato bit her lips for a second, trying to put what she was going to say into some sort of coherent sequence.

"Alright... first off, that thing back there was what we call an Angel." At the other woman's puzzled expression, all she could do was shrug.

"Hey, I didn't name them. Anyway, I work in the organization your father commands, NERV. Our purpose is defending humanity against the Angels. He probably mentioned something to you about his work being important, yeah?"

"Yeah... yeah, he did... never got that specific, though, and I never thought he'd be commanding an organization against something like THAT. I have no idea why he'd call me here after 12 years however... what could he want from me?"

At the girl's puzzled look, Misato pointed to the glovebox, ushering Yuria to open it.

"He wants your help with dealing with those things. There's some introductory materials here for you if you want to get somewhat more up to speed until we get to HQ. Sorry to dump all of this on you so suddenly, but as you kinda noticed, we're in a bit of a hurry at the moment."

Finishing her explanation, NERV's commander of operations answered her cellphone, throwing short answers to what Yuria could only guess was said HQ. Still trying to get to grasps with what the actual fuck, she decided to examine the material in the glovebox for now.

'So... Gendo Ikari, king of all bastards, is actually leading battle against whatever the jesus tapdancing christ those things are.'

At that though, a memory of the thing's "eyes" flashed in her mind, making her shiver.

'But why would he need my help? And why now of all things? Surely I'm not that extensively qualified that he can't get better people... what's going on in that sick mind of his?...'

At poor Yuria's baffled expression, Misato, now clear from HQ and parking into one of the emergency trains leading into the Geofront, piped up.

"So... is there anything I can help clear up? You seem unusually quiet after freaking out like that."

"Yeah, just... while I stand by my earlier question of what the ever-loving fuck, I just can't possibly imagine what he would need me for. Surely there's several highly qualified people working under him already? Why me specifically?"

Feeling a pang of guilt for a moment, Misato knew that explaining too much as is would only bring on more questions.

"Believe me, he called you here for a good reason. I'll be easier to show you than to tell you, so... trust him, for now?"

If there was a record to how much contempt a snort could carry, at that moment the young Ikari just crushed it by a country mile.

"Hah. Trusting the bastard king Gendo Rokobungi? The same bastard cake with bastard topping and bastard filling that disappeared 12 years ago, left me with my jerk aunt and never sent a word? The bastard who didn't keep even a single picture of my mother? No thanks. Bastard."

While her overuse of a certain adjective made Misato snicker, she couldn't help but notice an oddity.

"Rokobungi?"

Luckily, stares couldn't melt through roof lining, or Misato would need to stomach a repair bill.

"That... thing... doesn't deserve my mother's name."

A sad smile crossed the older woman's lips, making her gaze nostalgically into the ceiling of her beloved Alpine.

"Dad issues, eh? Welcome to the club, friend."

* * *

At that moment, the emergency train broke the light into the actual Geofront itself, leaving Yuria in a state that would be best described as speechless. Which was enough to give Misato a tinge of pride, for she was quite important in protecting the beyond-impressive cavern, and the world at large.

"So, first time in a Geofront?"

Winding down the window, the girl could only nod both yes and no at the same time, which gave Katsuragi a very quizzical look on her face.

"Kind of... I've only ever been to one in Germany, and it certainly didn't have it's own weather system... or artificial day-night cycle."

As much as the young Ikari tried, she couldn't help but look wide eyed at a lot of things as they left the train and started making their way through NERV HQ's corridors.

And kept going.

And kept going some more.

It was roughly around this time that Yuria finally had enough and asked to check Misato's map, finally leading them to an elevator, where a (faux) blonde was waiting, with quite the unhappy expression.

"So, how many circles have you gone around in this time Misato? 5 like last time, or do we have a new record?"

With a roll of her eyes, the dark-haired vixen could only flip her friend the bird.

"Yeah yeah, I love you too, Ritsuko. Anyway, I have a delivery of one Third Child."

Looking at the young girl up and down, the head of project E wore about the plainest expression that can be made without actually training.

"So, you're the Commander's daughter, Yuria Ikari, correct? My name is Ritsuko Akagi, I'm the head of project E. If you'd please follow me?"

As the trio made their way down a corridor into a dimly lit room, Yuria couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was watching her. And judging by the sounds and smells she was getting, they were apparently going over a lake of... blood?

Which is when the lights turned on.

'What. The. And fuck?'

In front of the young Ikari was a face. A very purple, very big, very armored face. And for some reason, looking at the... thing's eyes, gave her the very same dread she felt when she looked at the empty holes of darkness that made up the face of the 'Angel' currently decimating the city above them.

* * *

Deep beneath the ruins of the middle east, a soul stirs. An old, powerful, and very confused soul. And even halfway around the world, it can feel the light. The hateful, blinding, treacherous light.

Slowly, it places the pieces back together. The glory. The advancements. The betrayal.

And as it simmers in anger, the soul of Thobiasel makes it's way up from the place it was bound towards the surface, a dark smoke starting it's journey to find out what happened since, and set things right once more.

* * *

"The multi-purpose, all weather humanoid combat machine, Evangelion Unit 01."

States the faux blonde matter of factly, looking at the bewildered young woman. She can't exactly blame her, an Eva unit was a LOT to take in for a civilian. And yet, she could see the hazel eyes already darting back and forth, the expression changing from bewilderment to calculation, questions, answers.

 _Plans._

This was the Commander's daughter, alright.

"Wait, let me guess... you guys built a giant robot to fight the giant Angel that can take N2 Antimatter mines to the face?" The young woman asked, remembering what happened on the way to the Geofront.

* * *

Misato pulled her car over when she heard the order to withdraw all aircraft from the immediate combat area over the radio, her face a picture of worry.

"Yuria, can you pass me the binoculars in the glovebox? I have to check something."

The younger woman obliged, wondering just what was going to happen that'd leave the purple haired beauty worried after effortlessly outrunning what she could only describe as an Eldritch Abomination.

'Yeah, all the aircraft are getting the heck out of dodge, but for wha... wait, is that Angel over area R-13D? Oh SH-'

"GET DOWN!" She shouted, pushing the poor girl down and throwing herself on top, facing away from the massively blinding explosion as the sheer emanated heat passed over and through the car, leaving the paint on the side facing the blast more than a little washed out.

* * *

Yuria rubbed her eyes, the radiation from the blast having managed to send her vision white just by _remembering_ it. Taking a deep breath, she decided to just go with it for now.

"Alright. That's either the most incredibly stupid plan ever devised, or the most incredibly brilliant one. Perhaps both."

She sighed as another explosion shook the very foundations of the massive underground base, doing her best to not show how hard she was working to have to stay still.

"Okay. Well, I'm here, that...thing... _Angel..._ is presumably bearing down on us, and you guys have a giant freaking robot. Kick it. What do I do?"

"You're going to pilot it, Shinji."

Her whole body went rigid at the mention of that name. And the voice who said it. Slowly but surely, her eyes homed in to the command post far above the Eva unit, A see-through panel showing none other than-

"Rokobungi. Fuck you. First of all, fuck you with all the pitchforks in hell, sideways and on fire."

Her tone of voice was low and slow, a near growl that carried with it such hate and venom that would make an Angel proud. As she slowly lifter her finger to point at him, she continued.

"Second, Shinji Ikari is dead. He died more than 6 years ago. My name is Yuria and if you make that mistake again I swear to whatever gods may exist that there will not be a place on this earth for you far enough from me to be safe."

Gendo remained impassive on the outside, but inside his mind was almost proud about how his son, or whatever he wanted to call himself now, finally seemed to have grown a backbone. This would have to be addressed in the plans, but could also be useful.

Then what he actually said finally clicked in her mind, almost audibly so.

"What."

The Head of Project E spoke, looking steadily at the one chance that humanity had of surviving right now.

"Yuria Ikari, you have been selected to be the pilot of Evangelion Test Type Unit 01, our last hope against the Angels which threaten the existence of all mankind."

'Gods, that sounded much better in my head.'

The stunned young pilot to be looked at Misato, her face seemingly begging her to say this was all an incredibly stupid joke.

"No pressure." She said with a beatific smile, completely matter of factly.

* * *

Slowly, her face went through several different beginnings of phrase, ranging from another 'What' to several different versions of 'Are you fucking insane'. Finally, she settled in just one of the countless doubts she had about this thing that was an insult to plans everywhere.

"How?"

"There are very few specialized controls, the major movements and functions are thought-operated, and we'll guide you all the way through." The bottle blonde said, looking steadily at the Third Child, diverting her look upwards as one more explosion sent ripples across the LCL.

"And you don't have any other pilot? Someone who's actually trained for this?" Yuria asked, already knowing that they'd probably say no.

Ritsuko decided to show rather than tell, selecting something in her tablet and handing it over to the younger woman.

"Huh..." She could see a blue-haired pale girl in a hospital bed, apparently around her age, covered in bandages and hooked up to a few machines to monitor her condition. Which is when another explosion rocked the underground base, this time noticeably closer as all three women on the catwalk had to hold onto it to stay up. Looking back at the almost-dropped tablet, she could see the poor woman on the other side had fallen off the bed, some blood starting to soak through the bandages, her face clearly in pain as nurses rushed in to care for her.

She had seen enough. She figured she'd end up dying if she just tried to hide anyway, and at this point in her life, self-preservation was a thing that had about run out in her. Maybe she was being stupid, maybe she was being a death seeker, but hell, she could think of worse ways of dying than fighting an Angel inside a giant robot.

Having one last, deep sigh as she accepted her impending eldritch abomination-caused death, she turned to the expectant pair looking at her, giving a nod.

"Fine. Let's get this show on the road."

'I'm going to die, aren't I?' she asked mentally, to no one, as Ritsuko made her way to the control center and Misato followed Yuria towards the entry plug, thanking her heartfeltly on the way.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, an impossibly old dark smoke had found it's way into one of the technicians that were working overhead, it's mind using the newly learned knowledge to understand what they were talking about, the deep, pulsating power of it's mother easily sensed, far underground even from where they were. Thobiasel was amazed at everything he had seen on the way here, everything the Lilim had accomplished instilling a deep sense of pride in one of the seven guardians of the black moon. That they'd come as far as this in only two thousand years despite continuous brainwashing attempts by the hated betrayers, truly revealed their endless potential.

"Not if I can help it, you won't." He whispered, before leaving the body of a very confused power systems technician, and heading into the long white tube protruding from the neck of the purple behemoth.

* * *

She coughed as she tried to adjust to breathing the liquid that had filled her entry plug, the reddish orange mixture tasting and smelling like blood, only a lot thinner. To say it felt wrong was an understatement. Meanwhile, the other presence tried to absorb all the information it could from this wonder of lilim ingenuity.

"Alright, we'll begin the activation process Yuria, is Japanese ok for your operating language?" Ritsuko asked, while also paying attention to seemingly thousands of reports from the seemingly infinite amount of techs that were working on it.

"Oh. Actually, could you switch it to English? I'm more comfortable with that right now." She answered, trying to concentrate as the scientist had asked her to. She could feel _something_ inside this thing besides her. Blinking, she mentally corrected herself.

' _Two_ somethings. If I get out of this alive they'll have some explaining to do.'

"Starting second contact. Initiating interface." The younger tech in the command center announced, as Yuria started seeing a myriad of colours and patterns dancing around the walls of the entry plug. She felt a gentle hum as the A10 connectors holding her hair in place started to faintly glow in a colourless light.

Finally, as the walls of the plug became transparent, she was slightly aware that some of the sensations she was feeling were _not_ hers.

"This feels _weird as hell."_ she said to no one in particular, just for a seemingly holographic panel to pop up near her left arm, showing the head of project E together with Misato in the background.

"Don't worry Yuria, that's the Eva's feedback system. It lets you feel what it feels, so you can control it better." The blonde explained before closing the link, turning to Maya with a surprised expression at the brunette's latest report.

"54.7% ? And she's not even wearing a plugsuit... this is exceptional." Turning to her old friend, she nodded. "We're ready, Misato."

"PREPARE FOR EVA LAUNCH!" The purple haired Major declared, sending even more techs scurrying about to release the launch clamps.

Meanwhile, the third child looked at her trembling hands, clenching them to try and will the dread and fear away. No, she didn't particularly mind dying, but the idea of going face to face with the thing currently wreaking havoc in the city, even if from inside a giant mech, still scared her.

The G-forces seceded as her Evangelion came to a violent halt at the end of the electromagnetic tunnel system. In the distance she could see _countless_ gun batteries in the mountains opening fire on the Angel, distracting him from the real threat. Hundreds of thousands of tracer rounds could be seen coming out alternatively of the 4 barrels in each battery, each one aimed perfectly at the Eldritch Abomination doing it's best to block them with it's AT field. Normally, it wouldn't have to even think about the meaningless stings of these insects, but NERV had prepared in the extra 7 years of time they had. At first the old men of SEELE had panicked about the complete lack of angel activity in the expected timeframe, but with a more accurate translation, they noticed they had, somehow, gotten the date wrong.

That they didn't find out the timetable was being interfered with was something a certain triple agent was glad for everyday. Even in exile, the influence of the Guardians was still carried by their best and brightest.

* * *

As Yuria watched the battle unfolding before her eyes, she thought she heard a distant guitar melody. It seemed ancient, but she couldn't quite place it. It'd have to be put in the back of her mind however, as Misato appeared in the hololink on her left.

"Ok Yuria, we're distracting the Angel with artillery, it's not gonna hurt him but it's gonna keep him busy while you get the hang of moving the Eva. Ritsuko?"

"Right" The blonde said, splitting the screen with the Operations Director. "You probably felt how the Eva sends feedback directly to your brain. It's a dual way system, so you also only need to think, and the Eva will move accordingly." At that moment, the third child heard a mechanical sound, and felt 'her' body free.

"We've disengaged the muscle and movement locks. Let's start with the basics Yuria, try walking. Preferably not towards the Angel, please."

"Ok... walking. Got it." Concentrating, she willed her massive war machine to move.

And it did. One step and then another, if somewhat unsteady, like it had never really done this before. Watching in her view as the massive armored hands came up to chest height, clenching and unclenching as she willed them to, she momentarily forgot she was going to be thrown face to face against something that should not be, and smiled.

"This feels... incredibly weird. And incredibly amazing." It felt unnatural, and it had noticeable delay and inaccuracy, but that it even _worked_...

In the command center, the bridge bunnies watched in wonderment as somehow this first time pilot _hadn't_ face planted the multi trillion dollar mech with her first step. They could see that as she moved behind some buildings, away from the Angel, every step was less uncertain than the last, every hand and arm movement looked more organic.

 _'There must be some way out of here; said the Joker to the Thief'_

"Very well done, Yuria. We can't hold the Angel's attention much longer, but it your progress is beyond our expectations. Now, there are daggers we call Progressive Knives stashed into the shoulder pylons. The button above your indicator in the induction lever opens them. Try opening both now." And so Yuria did, gingerly willing 'her' hands around the handle of the knife that was bigger than most cars.

 _'There's too much confusion; I can't get no relief.'_

And so she quickly went through the movements to get acquainted. After the knives, the Pallet Rifle.

 _'Business men-they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth.'_

And finally, the AT Field.

 _'None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth.'_

This was it. Time to put her life on the line. At first, she was sure she was going to die, but inside this thing...

As she felt the warmth all around her, she stepped out from behind the buildings she was hiding at, once again getting a free line of sight to the creature, and the smoldering remains of what once were many gun batteries powerful enough to rip a fortress in half.

Maybe, just maybe, she had a chance.

* * *

"FUCK!" She swore as her gun clicked empty. She was doing her best to push her AT Field against the thing's, yet the rounds that she did get onto target were easily stopped by the creature's power. Jumping not very gracefully out of the way from Angel Beam inflicted death, she heard Misato say that her only chance was to take the thing on in melee range, where her Field could null it's. Sweating and hyperventilating, she threw her rifle away, shakily nodding to the Major.

 _'No reason to get excited, the thief-he kindly spoke.'_

She grunted as she repeatedly punched the crystalline barrier, each strike cracking it more and more to the sound of fragile glass. 'I can do this, the bastard's not even reacting. This is it!'

As her final punch finally shattered the field, the angel grabbed her fist, the pink glowing lance of light forming in his forearm before sliding forward, piercing armor, flesh and bone as she screamed.

 _'There are many here among us, who feel that life is but a joke.'_

"Extensive damage to right arm! At Field unstable!" Maya shouted, Misato watching horrified at the main monitor as she saw the Angel grab Unit 01's arm with the other hand and swing him overhead, smashing the gigantic android into the ground right in front of it. As he pulled his weapon back from the Evangelion's mangled arm, the pilot tried desperately to regain her senses as the overwhelming pain and disorientation consumed her, until she heard the Major's cry of dodge, dazedly throwing her Eva to the side as another lance of light pierced the ground where it's chest was just a second ago.

 _'But you and I we've been through that, and this is not our fate.'_

She ran away between buildings as she retreated as Misato has ordered, her arm numb from the pain, when a searing heat came from behind, her vision filled with pink as she did her best to not fall, turning back to the explosion just to see the massive form of the angel moving way too fast through it.

Headed for her.

She could only grab with her left arm as the angel held the Eva, and by extension her's, head, a pink light forming in the middle of it's palm. The third child gasped as she prepared for death, only to have dark smoke filling the corners of her vision, before darkness.

" _So let us not talk falsely now."_

Misato screamed the name of her new pilot as the lance pierced the Evangelion's head. "Abort the mission! Eject the entry plug!"

"I can't! The signal is being blocked from inside!" The main tech responded, panic evident in her voice. 'This is wrong, this is not how this was supposed to work!'

"Major! The right arm is regenerating! Pilot vitals stabilizing!" Makoto Hyuga, one of the pair of male techs in the bridge, reported incredulously.

"What!? Impossible!" The head of Project E exclaimed, her own eyes betraying her as she could clearly see both in the cameras and in the telemetry that not only was that happening, but the pilot's Sync Ratio shot up to the mid 90's.

"We've won." The sub commander quietly stated, as Gendo Ikari smiled behind his gloves.

"The hour's getting late."

* * *

The two voices sang through the eva comm system, shocking everyone as the command and bridge crew watched Unit 01 apply enough pressure to the angel's right arm to shatter it, the lance of light dissipating as the otherworldly being howled in pain.

The bridge bunnies gasped as the Eva proceeded to smash the angel's midsection with it's fist, sending it reeling back, eyes glowing a blazing red.

"Ikari. This is different from what we predicted." The sub-commander stated, listening intently as they heard a melodic humming coming from the entry plug, the video feed showing the pilot, Yuria Ikari... with solid black eyes and a grin on her face. This was not supposed to happen.

This was very, very wrong the old Ikari thought.

" _All along the watchtower._

 _Princess kept their view."_

They could hear, _feel,_ the angry growl of the creature in front of them. Willing the 60 meter tall war machine onto it's feet, their thoughts in unison, they could feel as the being that was an affront to all sanity healed the hole in it's head, until all there was left was a small scratch on the restored cranial armor.

"So... the masters of the betrayers have decided to dirty their hands, finally? My... how the mighty have fallen. It will be a _pleasure_ to complete your demise...Sachiel." The twin voices said, as the 3 and a half billion year old soul willed the Evangelion to finally bring some of it's true potential to bear.

" _While all the women came and went._

 _Bare foot servants too."_

"Angel has resumed the attack! High energy reaction detected inside the target!" Maya barked, doing her best to put the insane readings she was getting into context.

"Yuria! Dodge!" Misato shouted, unsure of what to do with this massive turn of events. One moment, her charge-to-be was getting decimated, and now she seemed firmly in control of the battle. _And her eyes were solid black._ She'd have to talk with Ritsuko about that.

"Unit 01 is maintaining position! Wait, it's... walking towards the angel! AT Field currently at 138% of maximum theoretical power and holding under sustained energy assault!" Ritsuko informed the bridge, unbelieving of what she was seeing. _What had they really unleashed?_

" _Outside in the distance._

 _A wild cat did growl."_

They smiled as they whispered the words, finally reaching the source of the light currently cascading against their AT field harmlessly. Grabbing the Angel's face plate, their left hand slowly started to crush it, cracks forming into the bone, the otherworldly being all but _howling_ in pain and the other, single feeling it was sure it'd never, ever feel.

 _Fear._

As it watched the pitiful being writhe in despair, only remaining arm flailing wildly in an attempt to free itself, the Eva broke it's jaw restraints, blood-red teeth meeting cold air for the first time in a long, long while.

And so it growled. It growled in triumph. In mockery. In _hate._

" _Two riders were approaching._

 _And the wind began to howl."_

Maya averted her eyes as the entire command center watched the Eva push it's opponent down and... _eat_...the Angel's core. Piece by piece, mouthful by mouthful, the doomed being on the ground writhing in pain, it's desperate cries only able to be described as an Angel's way to beg everything to end.

Seemingly having had enough of it's feast, the man made abomination arched back and let out a last, defiant, blood-curdling howl as pieces of core dissolved in it's maw, before bringing a fist to crush the remains of the Angel's receptacle of the soul.

As Misato watched the blood-covered titan lean forward and finally shut down, her ashen face could only utter her single thought since the massacre began

 _'Just what in God's name IS Unit 01?'_

* * *

So, that was it, the first chapter of my first "serious" fanfic. Hope you all enjoyed it, I'm looking forward to continuing it.

As you may have noticed, this version of Eva has quite a few differences, mostly in the pilots being actual (arguably) adults, the introduction of the guardians of the black moon, and the Angels being more vicious in combat. But are these the only differences? Probably not! You'll have to keep reading to find out, _muahahahaha!_

The song that plays in _'Italic'_ during the fight with Sachiel is All Along the Watchtower, Battlestar Galactica version. Feel free to play it in the background while you read for increased immersion.


	2. Act 2: Of Seraphims and Cannons

So, here it is, the much awaited (by my ego) second chapter!

As Always, Evangelion and anything related to it are properties of Hideaki Anno and studio Gainax. _Curse them._

"This is going to take a lot of cleaning." Misato said to no one, observing the corpse of Sachiel being dismantled and carried away from the safety of her Hazmat Suit.

"Look at the bright side Misato, this means an entirely new angel for us to poke and prod and find out how to better kill them." The faux blonde replied, typing more data into her tablet. While the Angel would be certainly interesting to study, her efforts would be focused on Unit 01 and just what in all hells it had done during the battle for some time to come.

"By the way, your new roommate is awake. No, we couldn't find any explanation for her behavior during the battle. Yes, she seems to be physically fine and is fit to leave the hospital. Yes, she's very likely traumatized for life. " The doctor listed off, already knowing every question that would come from her long time friend. Intimacy is a one way road, her mother always said.

"Well, I guess that's my signal to stop procrastinating and go see her. Thanks for everything, Ritz. Don't know what we'd do without you." Turning around and giving her best friend a pat on the shoulder, NERV's captain of operations made her way back to her hastily fixed Alpine, unaware of the internal turmoil her words created in project E's chief scientist.

* * *

As she stared at her new body, flexing her fingers and dripping of LCL, Thobiasel grimaced.

"Half Angel. Ack." the now she stated in apparent disgust, picking the towel the most trusted living agent of the guardians of the black moon handed to her.

"Look at the bright side, Thobiasel. Your new shell has both angelic and demonic powers now. And a killer rack." The spy joked, leaning into the wall of the lab room, a facility located deep beneath the remains of Tokyo-2. One of the few holdouts that the society of the black moon had nowadays.

The ancient guardian scoffed as she started to get dressed. Having a body after 2 thousand years was admittedly nice, and the angelic powers would be useful indeed she surmised, willing her AT field to visible existence in front of her just to smash it effortlessly with a single hand.

"How are the efforts in locating the other guardians proceeding?" the blue-haired pale woman asked, thumbing through the phone her new underling had gotten for her, still entranced with the sheer inventiveness of their charges.

"With you out, our teams have begun making considerable progress. Let's head to the comm-" The spy was interrupted by a call, however. "Hai. -Is that so? Good to hear. -Yes, me and the boss will be heading your way asap. Well done." As he ended the call, the man noticed his new boss looking at him with something between amazement and befuddlement.

"Was... was that supposed to be in the English language? Thobiasel asked, incredulous.

"Yes? Why?" the underling answered, curious.

"That was the single worst English I have any memory of, and I've been through 4 bodies before this one."

* * *

Yuria glared out of the windows of the hospital building out into the geofront. It was a majestic sight that would be calming if it wasn't for her brain throwing out images from her life or death battle from 2 days before into her consciousness like it has nothing else to do.

To be fair to her brain, it really didn't have anything else to do. She had woken up in the dead of the night, screaming her lungs out, and it took 3 nurses and an unhealthy amount of sedatives to calm her down. After being explained that she was alive and had won the battle, she did her best to figure out the _hows_ of that sentence.

After several hours and a headache getting an upgrade from 'annoying' to 'I wish to take a power drill to my temple', the youngest Ikari gave up. Better to wait for more information than to make wild guesses.

However, that left her brain to itself, which was never, ever good. Especially since her current state could aptly be described as 'nervous wreck'.

Such a simple thing as 'shaking like a body massager' wasn't enough to distract her from the gurney being carted past the corridor she was in however, or the contents of said gurney. ' _The wounded pilot._ ' she remembered, the blue-haired, red-eyed pale woman being easily distinguished from anyone else.

And looking like she was bored out of her skull.

'Mental Note: come visit her if possible. She looks objectively miserable.'

"Yuria! Nice to see you up and about!" The way too loud for a hospital voice of a certain Misato Katsuragi rang along the corridor, making more than one nurse give disapproving looks. After stopping her body from trying to jump out of her skin, the younger woman turned to her new captain.

"H-hey Misato. Good to see you." She tumbled over her words, trying to calm herself down properly. "You ok girl? You look like you've seen ghosts playing accordion." The older woman inquired, the nervousness of her charge clearly evident. "Yeah, yeah, just... been a bit on the edge since I woke up. Surprised that I woke up, actually. And that everyone isn't dead." She forced a smile, trying to reassure the woman in front of her. She seemed like a nice person, so far.

"I guess you don't remember it eh?" Misato asked. "Last thing I remember is getting a face full of energy spear. Which was very definitely not pleasant, might I add." Yuria deadpanned. "Oh." Misato sucked in a breath, looking guilty. Ok, what do you say you get dressed and I catch you up with what happened on the way to HQ? We have to go through the whole bureaucracy now, unfortunately."

* * *

Rei Ayanami was bored. She was incredibly, unbelievably, mind-numbingly bored. Bad things happen when Rei Ayanami is bored.

' _The Third Child is the commander's... daughter. Unexpected._ ' She wondered to herself. At one point in time, she may have considered the commander to be worth of using an imaginary capital C. After she was contacted by the society of the black moon and was exposed to the truth 2 years ago however, she found out that was no longer the case. Thankfully, she didn't need to keep up appearances in her own mind. _'She looked at me when I was wheeled past. She seemed... concerned. Moreover, she willingly piloted to save other people's lives without having to go through emotional manipulation by the commander. It seems the Third Child is... nice. Quite unlike her father_.'

Her mind was ablaze with the possibilities and the plans. She'd have to pull some favors. Manipulate some strings. Maybe assassinate a few people.

Rei Ayanami smiled to herself.

Bad things happen when Rei Ayanami smiles to herself.

* * *

"Alright Miss Yuria, do you have any doubts about your contract?" The pleasant NERV HR representative asked out of politeness.

The young brunette squinted at a part of the contract, pointing it to the poor employee. "This part. Change 250 thousand base yen to 800 thousand base yen. At the very least." She leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms with a set expression that was oddly reminiscent of the base commander.

"Or you don't have a pilot anymore."

Both the representative and Misato blanched, the latter whispering to said pilot. "Yuria, that's about as much as I get paid, and that's without the benefits you'll have." Turning to her now roommate, the third child deadpanned. "Misato, I was picked off my normal life, stuck inside a 60 meter cyborg, and told to battle royal with a godsdamned alien. And if I sign this, it means it'll happen again. And again." She was visibly shaking, before steeling herself.

"I want to at least enjoy what little life I may have left." She said resignedly, looking at her hands on the table.

* * *

"Hey, let's make a stop for party supplies, mmk?" Misato smiled. "Eh? We're having a party?" The younger woman asked, feeling really rather not in the mood to mingle with strangers over loud music. Not that she ever was. "Well, more like a small commemoration, really. I mean, you're moving in with me! We should at least make it a night to remember, y'know?" As she pulled the car to a stop before a supermarket, she could notice Yuria smiling and blushing faintly. Mission cheer up the sad kitten, complete.

As she pushed the cart around, Yuria couldn't help but notice everything Misato was choosing was ready-made. It made sense, she guessed, they were both tired and the party came out of nowhe-

"Did you hear what happened to sector 4? Utterly obliterated a few days ago! I thought Tokyo-3 was supposed to be the safest place in the world!" A middle aged woman commented to her friend. "What did you expect, those fools at NERV don't know what they are doing! My husband and I are thinking of moving, preferably far away from here." Said friend shot back. Noticing the youngest Ikari looking down with a troubled expression, Misato decided to change the subject for them. "Ahem." Making sure she got their attention, all she did was tap the Nerv Major insignia on the arm of her jacket, with her patented 'I'm tired of your bullshit' look.

Said look was normally used to send underlings fleeing for their lives, so that the women managed to at least try to make their exit seem dignified was at least a point for them.

"...I want one of those jackets." Yuria offhanded, making Misato snicker. She seemed like a nice 'kid'. Hopefully she'd manage to not completely traumatize her before this was all over. ' _If we survive to begin with._ ' The dark side of her mind added.

* * *

"We're gonna take a small detour." The purple haired vixen announced from behind the wheel, taking the shorter woman out of her flashback trance. It was only then she noticed she was gripping the side of the seat so hard as to make a dent in the shape. "Huh? Where to? The sun is almost setting." Yuria answered, looking at the up ramp Misato took, leading them up a hill in the outskirts of the city. "Na-ah, that's a surprise~~" Misato sing-songed.

She felt the pit of her stomach drop. It didn't seem like there were any houses around anymore as they ascended. ' _No. No no no no no. Calm down. She's not going to do that. She's nice. You're safe._ ' The young Ikari tried to tell herself, willing the nervousness down. ' _Are you really? Wasn't she your friend? Since you were kids? And did that stop her?_ ' The darker parts of her mind argued back, bringing back memories she did her best to forget. And so the frightened girl did what she tended to do in those cases, hugging her arms tight in the hopes of protecting herself.

When Misato finally parked her car atop the mountain, what she found when she looked at her passenger was a look that would promise to be in her nightmares in the future. The darker haired girl was trying to hug herself, eyes darting in the distance, whole body shivering.' _What? What is she terrified of? Wait... that's not terror...I know that look..._ ' She'd seen it before, on one of her college friends. After something very, very bad happened to her. ' _Did Yuria also...? Oh Gods, poor girl..._ ' Leaning a bit closer, the older woman called her roommate gently to get her attention.

"Hey, we're here... I wanted you to see something. To see what you protected. Over there, on the lookout?" She mentioned, using her best soothing voice. This girl was damaged in many ways, it seemed."Huh? Oh..." She forced her brain to process what Misato had said, the cold inside her slowly dissipating as she finally understood what the Major had brought her here for. "Ah... sure, let's go." Leaving the car with unsteady steps, she made her way with her roommate to the lookout, colour slowly returning to her face.

"On three, two, one..." The buxommest (not by much) of the two called out, just in time for an alarm to sound in the city... and many buildings to start rising from the ground.

"Oh... holy... " Yuria could only try to find adjectives for what she was seeing, but her brain was too busy being amazed. As the last of the buildings locked into place, Misato announced with pride in her voice. "That is Tokyo-3, Yuria. That's my city. The last hope of humanity. The very city you saved that day." She squeezed the shoulder of the shorter girl softly, the third child turned to her new friend and nodded, placing one of her own hands over the one on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Misato." Looking back at the town, she marveled as the city lights started to come on. "Guess it was worth it after all."

* * *

Yuria blanched. Now, she wasn't a neat freak by any means, but if something was dirty or disorganized enough that it became inefficient or impractical, she'd clean it. She'd have a _lot_ of cleaning to do in this place. Misato, completely oblivious to the reason why her roommate was standing by the entrance, urged her in. "Hey, come on in, no need to be shy! This is your home now." She used one of her warmest smiles, unknowingly making the third child's heart skip a few beats accompanying a blush.

"Oh! Right. Hmmm... Tadaima?" She said tentatively, stepping inside. "Okaeri." The older woman grinned, offering a fist bump.

Talk came and went as they ate, Misato downing more than a few cans of beer in the process, She decided she liked this girl. She was direct, honest, emotional and compassionate. Almost-

' _Almost like what you try to be if it wasn't for all the shit._ ' Her brain helpfully finished her sentence for her. Looks like it hadn't had enough alcohol yet. Well, that was easily remedied. Noticing all the black haired girl drank the whole night was water though, curiosity got the best of her. "So, you don't like beer?" She asked, pointing to a cabinet in the corner of the kitchen. "I've got wine, brandy, whiskey, you name it. Feel free to help yourself out." She smiled friendly, not having had a drinking buddy since college.

Looking up from her phone, Yuria smiled politely. "Ah, no thanks. I don't really drink." At that, Misato raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Any particular reason?" The third child looked into the distance, as if she could discover an answer into the molecules of the wall. "I guess... I guess I rather just face the pain sober, really." She punctuated with a shrug. ' _Face the pain, huh?... Not running away..._ ' Misato mused. She stared into the abyss that was her beer can, and the abyss stared back. Putting it down for now, she took one look at the wall clock, 10PM already. Changing mental gears, she put up her Infectious Smile (Trademarked).

"So, how about a bath hmm? A good one rinses the soul as well." She suggested, pointing the uncharacteristically half full beer can at her new friend.

Yuria knew when she had an opening though, and went for it, with her best seductive voice and bashful maiden look. "Oh my, Misato... on our second date already? I'm flattered." Was all she could manage before breaking into laughter at the vixen's hard blush. But of course, Misato wasn't one to leave things at that. "Well, what can I say, I have a soft spot for beautiful girls..." She grinned, seeing her target go beat red in an instant before looking away. ' _Can dish it out but not take it, eh?_ ' She giggled mentally.

The third child could feel her heart racing, she knew she was blushing. While she absolutely loved the increased sensitivity that being a woman brought, it also meant she was way easier to be messed with than before. "Ah, right, bath. Going." She got up and went to look for her bath supplies, silently whispering a "Thanks." to her new friend.

* * *

Looking pensively at her can, still half full, the sweet oblivion of alcoholic coma didn't look that appealing anymore for Misato. ' _Running away... Just another way of running away... I'm pathetic..._ ' At that, the younger beauty walked past the kitchen with her bath supplies, catching the Major's sour expression. "...Misato, you ok? You can take a bath first if you want, A good bath rinses the soul, right?" She tried doing the Misato Smile, and if the owner herself had to admit, did a pretty good job of it. Smiling faintly, NERV's third in command answered. "That's my line you sneaky thief. But thanks for the offer, I can wait though. You go on."

With a last concerned look that said ' _I'll obey but I'm still worried_ ', Yuria obliged, leaving Misato to her own treacherous thoughts. Which was when the victim of said treacherous thoughts noticed that Pen Pen hadn't come to ask for food, and judging by the fact that she couldn't hear his TV, he wasn't on his freezer either. Putting 2 and 2 together, the purple haired goofball grinned at the bathroom door.

"On three, two, one..." And as always right on cue (many people in her life had told her that her ability to time things was uncanny),...

"WAAARK! WARK! WARK! WARK!" And a completely nude Yuria Ikari opened the door in a hurry, eyes the size of saucers. "MISATO! YOU HAVE A PENGUIN IN THE BATH!" The brunette exclaimed in sheer disbelief at what she'd just seen. Which is when the object of said disbelief walked out of the bathroom, warked at it's owner, and climbed into the secondary fridge, leaving the very naked and too surprised to notice girl gaping in it's general direction.

"Oh, him? That's Pen Pen, my other roommate. He's a Hot Springs Penguin I rescued from a shelter, he's been living here ever since, right Pen Pen?" The penguin nodded in approval before turning on his TV and closing the freezer door. Grinning at her direction, Misato decided to tease her new friend again. "By the way, not that I'm complaining, but aren't you missing something?" She gestured at the Third Child, making said person look down and blush furiously when she realized that yes, she was very much missing _all of her clothes_.

"EEK!" Trying to cover herself after letting out a very girly scream, Yuria was suddenly very conscious of herself. However, while trying to avert her new friend's stare, a small voice poked at her mind. ' _Fuck it. What do you have to lose?_ ' Trying to put up her best confident smile despite the furious blushing, she struck a pose as seductive as she could, teasing back. _"Not complaining huh?_ Glad to know." With a wink at a dumbfounded Misato, she walked back inside the bathroom, putting extra sway in her step before closing the door.

* * *

And immediately running to the sink and staring at the mirror, blushing like a tomato while struggling to not hyperventilate. ' _WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO YOUR INSANE WOMAN!?_ " Every single sensible part of her brain shouted at her. Yet, the image of Misato blushing with wide eyes didn't stay out of her mind. It sparked a small fire inside her. Calming down, she whispered to herself as she slid into the tub. "Why do I always make my life more complicated?" The answer came almost immediately. ' _Because you're insane and have the papers to prove it._ ' Sighing and leaning back to relax into the warm water, she could only say one thing. "Point, me. Point."

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Misato's brain was still resetting. She was not prepared for that. Teasing? Sure. Being all but _naked modeled_ to? No, she'd need to be _way_ drunker for that. ' _Shut up, brain._ ' But her brain wasn't relenting, she'd been single for a long time and that experiment back in college with Rits was _fun_ and _SHUT UP BRAIN SHE'S A GODSDAMNED PILOT._

That one worked. She'd keep that in mind, yes.

* * *

The alarms blared in Nerv-Berlin, sending sleeping personnel scrambling about. "ALERT! ALERT! CODE PURPLE DETECTED IN THE BALTIC SEA! ALL PERSONNEL TO LEVEL ONE BATTLE STATIONS! ALL PERSONNEL TO LEVEL ONE BATTLE STATIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"

An angry shouting could be heard despite the alarms, from a fiery German redhead as she ran past scrambling technicians to the Eva cages. "IT'S BLOODY MIDNIGHT! DOES THAT ARSCHLOCH WANTS TO DIE THIS MUCH HE COULDN'T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW!?" As she skidded to a stop near the entry plug for her red Eva unit however, she could see her partner's pink Eva was already starting up. Jumping into the plug and closing the hatch, Asuka Langley Sohryu settled into the seat and started Eva Unit-02 boot sequence, opening a comm link with the pilot of the pink Eva.

"Four Eyes! You weren't even in bed! What gives?" She saw the brown haired pilot come out of her pre-battle trance, smiling childishly at the Second Child.

"Sorry Princess, went up to get a snack just before we got jumped, gotta keep these puppies in shape." Pushing her arms together to make her breasts seem even bigger, Mari Illustrious Sohryu winked and blew a kiss at her wife, her usual tension-breaking tactic working like a charm as she could see the red haired blushing and looking away muttering something about "Stupid Sexy Mari." as her Eva came online.

"Alright girls, listen up." The commander of Nerv-Berlin, a man in his 40s, cut their conversation. "We've detected a code-purple energy reading 10 minutes ago about to make landfall near Heringsdorf. Intel classified it as a Seraphim, so it's a big one. It's currently crossing Szczeczin lake and heading our way. As he explained the situation, a holographic tactical map was being displayed both in the command bridge and inside the Evas.

"You two will be deployed to Ueckermünde Crater via X-66 to intercept. Your weapons will be available in the New Liepgarten armory. Unit-08 will provide fire support to 02 as it reaches melee range, and close in for direct support if necessary, as always. Understood?"

"Jawohl, Kommander!" Asuka answered warmly, focusing on the teams strapping the X-66 dual stage fast transport to her back.

"Roger that, dad-in-law!" Mari's voice came through the comm link, making the currently very tired Stephan Langley Sohryu pinch the bridge of his nose. "Mari, please. It's too late for this. Just kill the thing and come home safely, both you and Asuka." The Fourth Child's smile went from comedic to warm, her overflowing confidence a perfect match to the Second.

"Don't worry, Commander. I'll keep our love safe."

* * *

Finally reaching the surface, the massive rocket boosters strapped to the back of the Evas started releasing coolant as they prepared for ignition. "Sync ratio stable at 79 and 77% for Units 02 and 08! X66s ready for deployment! New Liepgarten armory standing by with equipment! Everything is ready, Sir!" One of the support staff listed off, hair dishevelled from getting out of bed too quickly.

"Launch in 10!"

Seeing the countdown timer on both their HUD's, the pilot couple gripped the Induction Levers tight, a predatory smile coming to their faces. One more battle, one more victory.

"5!"

The Igniters in both launch towers came to life, sending a shower of sparks across the many engines in each rapid transfer vehicle, each pilot feeling the tension of 5 thousand kilo-newtons of thrust being barely held in place by the launch clamps.

"Evangelion Squadron 2, Launch!"

On Langley's order, the clamps released, sending both Eva units careening through the air with the glow of suns at their backs, the light visible for hundreds of kilometres through the clear night.

Both pilots looked at the ground under them become a blur as the rocket-powered Evangelions broke Mach 1, the shockwave in front of them going too fast for air to get out of the way. They felt their spines compress as the acceleration pushed through Mach 2. They felt the shock heating starting as they broke Mach 3, just before the boosters ran out and jettisoned, leaving them to glide and decelerate the rest of the way.

* * *

Sarandiel felt the presence of the shadows of the Father as the lights from the southwest went dark. He could feel them coming, their killer intent bearing down on him. He was ranked among the most powerful of his sisters and brothers, yet never comparable to the True Ones. No mater, he had his mission: destroy or at the very least wound the shadows of the Father before they could join the mounting defenses of those in the East. A diversionary tactic, a suicidal attack.

 _A purpose._

* * *

"Four Eyes! Landing in 3!" Asuka called out, their speed low enough to be able to touch down inside the Ueckermünde Crater, a stark reminder of the power even a Lower One possessed. That was a mistake the Second Child would carry to her grave. But she wasn't alone now, as the duo landed in a sprint, bleeding off the remaining speed from the flight. Heading to the armory nearby, the Evas could spot the Seraphim in the distance.

Two reflective rings orbiting a core block, 4 sectors visible but who knew how many hidden. If only Lower Ones had such a massive target as the True Ones. Although the decrease in power that came with a core block instead of a true Core was certainly appreciated by the couple currently approaching the being who knew himself as Sarandiel, weapons at the ready and power cables connected.

"Alright Princess, I'll set up my rifle here, it's less than a kilometer if I need to come save your hot ass." Mari willed her Unit-08 into a crouching position, massive railgun positioned atop an abandoned building for support. "Hah, as if, you're just looking for an excuse to tap this." To emphasize her point, Asuka willed her Unit-02 into a position that would most emphasize her... behind.

As the red Evangelion started into a run towards the Seraphim, the Fourth Child retorted. "Do I _need_ an excuse to tap that, now?" Winking to eachother, the couple focused on the mission. Whatever tapping of whatever asses would have to wait until they kicked the one currently advancing towards them.

* * *

"Mari here, initiating support fire!" As Asuka approached the Seraphim, Unit-08 let loose with a railgun shot aimed straight at it's core block. The first round deflected off the AT Field, the second one punched through thanks to Unit-02's efforts in neutralizing the being's defenses with her own.

Only for it to be blocked by the rings who started moving in a frenzy, the damage to the rings themselves quickly regenerating. Swearing under her breath, Mari continued to pour hypervelocity depleted uranium rounds the size of a truck into the Seraphim, hoping to at least keep it's attention while her wife moved in close for a kill.

Said wife was finally within range to begin the offensive with her Progressive Glaive, the long blade of the polearm vibrating to better cut and stab into whatever material it came into contact with. Normally said material being miscellaneous parts of Angelic being anatomy. And strike she did, aimed first at the rings that were blocking Unit-08's shots.

Only for her blade to be deflected by the speed at which the Seraphim's defensive measures were spinning and orbiting, managing to deflect any strike she tried, high or low, left or right. But she could see it, the Seraphim's defenses were focused on her, which meant the steady stream of Mach 15 abuse coming from her partner was managing to make a number on the inner ring, some shots even managing to graze the core block.

They were pressuring it hard, it was a matter of time now.

Which is when Mari's railgun ran out of ammo, forcing Asuka to step back from melee range now that the angel wasn't distracted anymore. In fact, it almost seemed as if it was concentrating for some-

"Princess! It's gonna shoot!"

At the Fourth Child's warning, the pilot of the red Evangelion noticed that the glowing core block was more easily visible to her - if only because the rings were spinning in a way that they didn't block it from her point of view. Giving her a way to attack - and a way for the angel to attack as well. And that's what it did, as a pinkish purple beam of energy slammed into Unit-02's AT Field, forcing the massive war construct back several dozen steps if it wanted to remain standing, it's barrier of the soul managing to stop the heat and plasma but not the force itself.

Grinding her teeth and growling from both the effort and the _gall_ of this being _daring_ to attack the great Asuka Langley Sohryu, the German pilot grinned as she saw the symbol of her partner's Eva on her HUD approaching the Seraphim from behind, the angelic being too distracted by the red behemoth to pay attention to what was happening at his flank. And Mari Illustrious Sohryu was going to take full advantage of that, much to Sarandiel's pain.

Unholstering her brand new Alloy Cannon, the half British, half Japanese pilot took aim roughly at the core block, and from less than 100 meters away, sent a shower of hyperdense serrated metal shards at terrifying velocity towards the target. The main metamaterials researcher of Nerv-Berlin, Dr. Vahlen, once described the recoil of that particular gun as "Like being drop-kicked by a meteor." After having the full inertia of a 60 meter tall biomech in a dead sprint be stopped by the recoil of a single shot, the sync feedback making her arms _hurt_ , Mari had to agree.

In question of pain however, the Seraphim was in a league of it's own right now.

The projectiles hit it's core block with horrifying force, shredding and shattering their way through, taking out 4 of it's 6 nuclei, and forcing a soul-shaking howl out of the alien being. In a daze, it's rings moving slowly and uncoordinatedly, it couldn't do anything as the Unit it was previously attacking came at it and sliced it's remaining nuclei with it's glaive, sending an arc of blood through the air as it cut through.

* * *

In the command center, the people cheered as they saw the visage of Sarandiel's body, or what was left of it, going limp and crashing to the ground, Stephan letting out a breath even he didn't know he was holding. The girls had done it yet again, another notch on their belt. He'd received the report from Nerv-Tokyo about the full scale Angel attack a few days prior, and was already expecting the order to send one, or more likely both of his Evas over there. Germany had the most experienced and lethal pilots in the world, but the real war was starting in Japan, and that's where they'd be needed. He'd have to make do with the TRIDENT Squads.

Godsdamnit, he'd miss them qui-

Suddenly, everyone was abruptly taken out of their lines of thought when a horrifyingly loud bang echoed through the night, the bridge crew sure that they'd _felt_ it, hundreds of kilometers away from the battle or not.

In the view screen, they could see a bright pink Evangelion shrugging, the motion almost comical when combined with the smoking pseudo-shotgun it was holding, pointing at the general direction of the now pile of mush that used to be a Seraphim corpse.

"What? I thought it'd moved."

Stephan pinched the bridge of his nose. It was a learned habit he got after getting command of Nerv-Berlin 10 years ago.

'Actually, some nice and quiet away from these two might be good for a change.'

So, there we are! The delay of the Angels means a lot of changes all around the world, some of them good, others not so much. If anyone would like to be a beta-reader, make sure to contact me! Any reviews are appreciated!

See you people on the next chapter, for more _intrigue._


	3. Act 3: Of the Flock Burdened with Death

Here comes the third act, I am sorry for the delay it took, I took a bit of a break over the holidays.

As always Neon Genesis Evangelion and anything related to it are properties of Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax. _One day..._

* * *

 **Act 3: Of the Flock Burdened with death.**

"Hmmm..." She opened her eyes. She didn't have any nightmares about the fight. The ceiling wasn't the clean white of the hospital but rather a creamish yellow.

' _What?... Did I dream all that up...?_ ' She wondered, black hair falling over her eyes as she turned. Wardrobe open, bags all open on the floor, her laptop charging in the nightstand. No, she remembered. She remembered the Eva, the Angel, Ritsuko, her 'father', ... Misato...

And then her face lit up like a red light and Ikari was very much awake as she remembered last night. Oh gods, she fucked up didn't she? Misato may have joked about it when she came out of the bath but she was _sure_ she went too far.

'Way to go Yuria, you just got a really nice roomate that happens to be achingly beautiful and you probably weirded her the hell out. And she's your superior. And you have to fight giant monsters now.'

Suddenly, getting out of bed didn't seem to be a good idea.

But no, her conscience had to chime in that she should at least get up and tidy up the apartment a bit for her new friend, as a way of apologizing. And also because the mess annoyed her. And also because it was 5:30 AM and she was wide awake and would feel guilty if she didn't.

At that moment Yuria once again reaffirmed to herself that yes, being a decent person kinda sucked sometimes.

All in all, the rough of the cleaning took about one hour, if only because she was being quiet to not wake Misato up. She had no idea how heavy the Major's sleep was yet, or she would have used vacuum cleaners and trash grinders.

Looking around, she smiled at her work. It definitely wasn't shining clean, but it was at least presentable. And both her back and stomach hurt so it was definitely time to take a break from cleaning and eat something.

Taking some leftovers from the fridge, the now official Third Child and pilor of Unit 01 set down when she heard the hideously loud alarm of a certain purple haired person ring out and probably wake up anyone and any _thing_ in a three kilometer radius. Looking at her roomate's door in beffudlement, fork still halfway to her mouth, she watched as a very much underdressed Misato walked into the corridor that connected the apartment together. Kick-starting her brain, she said the first decent thing that came to her mouth.

"'Morning, Misato. How did you sleep?'"

Still stifling a yawn, the Major was quick to jump when her brain fired up and noticed she had someone else in her kitchen. Someone she knew. And _the apartment was cleaner than she ever had it_?

"OH! Hi Yuria! Sorry I didn't notice you, was still halfway asleep." Scratching the back of her head and letting out a guilty chuckle, the older woman took a look around and found that yes, the apartment _was_ a lot cleaner. "Aww, you didn't need to do all this... but thank you." She let loose one of her honest smiles, less massive than the ones she tended to use, but to Yuria, it was something that she wouldn't forget so soon.

As if the sight of Misato stretching in a pair of shorts and top that were somehow _less_ modest than underwear didn't make sure of that.

Blushing, Yuria took a sip of the tea she had made, the hot beverage clashing hideously with the freezer leftovers, but right now she couldn't bring herself to care. As she heard Misato getting the rest of the leftovers and a can of beer, her thoughts idled.

' _Wonder what I'll have to do today... Probably some sort of combat training, if they have any idea what they are doing.'_ At the thought of combat, her mind wandered to the self note she made yesterday.

 _'Visit the other pilot. Ask how she's doing. Maybe bring something to ease her boredom in that hospital.'_ And then Yuria realized she didn't even know the name of said pilot, let alone what entertainment she would like.

"Hey, Misato, what's the name of the other pilot? The blue haired girl. What is she like?"

"Oh, Rei you mean?" The older woman answered, sipping her beer instead of inhaling it like a pump. "She's a nice girl. Very reserved and quiet most of the time, although she's been getting better recently. Why the sudden question?"

Looking off into the distance, the Third Child recalled the events from the past day.

"She was gurneyed past me when I was waiting at the hospital yesterday. She seemed horribly bored. Was thinking we could visit her, maybe bring her something to pass the time? Must suck to just stare at a ceiling or crap television for days on end. Although she's probably swamped in cards and flowers from admirers by now."

At that, Misato chuckled at the mental image of boys throwing themselves at Rei while she just looked at them impassively. Which was the case back in her school days for a while before they just gave up.

"You'd be surprised, I don't think she has many friends per se. I at least rarely see her talking to anyone other than Ritsuko and the Commander. I think she'd appreciate a visit, yeah."

With a small grunt of dismissal, Yuria looked off to the side, expression darkening. "Hah, as if anyone would talk to that shell of a man if not ordered to. Nice joke, Major."

Wincing internally, Misato decided to break the story now. It would get worse if she figured out on her own.

"Actually, the Commander... raised her."

At that, the younger woman promptly choked at the tea she was drinking, having to punch her chest to get air again. "He WHAT!?" Eyes wide as saucers, Yuria listened as Misato explained what she knew.

Pale, she looked utterly dismayed as Misato finished. "Good gods... That girl, no one deserves that. No wonder she doesn't have many friends then. Must have been raised like a tool or instrument...a child soldier." The thought only managed to make her hatred for Gendo Rokobungi to run even deeper. And then she realized she could both befriend the girl, and bring her farther away from the bastard. That would be a nice thing to do, yes.

With a decided look in her eyes, she asked her roommate. "Alright, we'll definitely visit her then. Do you know what sort of gift she'd like?" At that, the commander of operations of NERV searched through her memories of the First Child.

"Hmm... Actually, I do see her reading books sometimes. I think she likes them." Smiling, Yuria Ikari finished her tea in one big gulp. "That's decided then, we'll go to a Book Shop before we visit her!"

* * *

As Yuria fruitlessly looked through the aisles, Misato in tow, she couldn't help but feel annoyed. "Why didn't you mention that you didn't know what _types_ of books she liked?" She asked her friend, frustration evident in her voice. Offering both hands up as a placating gesture, the Major answered.

"Hey, you didn't ask. I don't tend to read a lot of books so I forgot about that."

As the black haired girl looked around, said hair neatly combed into a ponytail with a few shorter bangs in the front, she witnessed what could be well the solution to her problems. Making her way to the display case, she smiled as she found something that would work. However, one question was eating away at her brain.

"Hey Misato, how did Rei get so injured anyway? It seemed pretty serious."

Looking to the side, the older one of the pair narrated guiltily...

* * *

"It's out of control! Evacuate the building!" A technician shouted, but there was no time as the gigantic metal foot slammed through the roof of the control room, making the many dignitaries inside duck for cover.

"Control rods aren't retreating! Possibility of meltdown imminent!" The command bridge of Japan's Heavy Chemical Industries Jet Alone Prime project was awash in warnings, as the 60 meter tall robot made it's way towards the city of Atsugi.

"Time is running out, give me the password." Major Katsuragi was absolutely done having to deal with the leader of the JA Project, Shiro Tokita. The man had no idea how to act in a moment of crisis, and his hubris meant that now they had to deal with a walking nuclear meltdown.

"I can't. I need the clearance!" The man answered, clearly never prepared to something like this.

"Then we'll have to do it the hard way. I'm getting Unit 00 to stop it." As Misato reached for her cellphone to contact NERV, Tokita could only rest his head in his hands in despair. He knew he was finished.

As Misato and Ritsuko huddled in front of a laptop, they could hear the report from NERV's command bridge via the voice comms. "Unit 00 is active and ready to deploy. Payload separation on your orders, Major." Switching the line to the pilot, Katsuragi explained the plan.

"Alright Rei, this is the current plan. You'll be deployed 200m in front of Jet Alone. We haven't been cleared to use our weapons so you'll have to stop it in hand to hand before he can reach anywhere near Atsugi. According to the techs you'll have 4 minutes until critical meltdown. I want you to immobilize it permanently then get out of the explosion radius, you get that?"

"Understood Major." Rei Ayanami, pilot of Unit 00, answered. This should be a relatively simple deployment. Incapacitate the robot, then get out. Far easier than going toe to toe with an Angel, at any rate.

"Unit 00, Launch!" At Misato's order, the explosive bolts holding the Evangelion to the flying wing transport cut their connection, sending the war machine into a free-fall of 500 meters to the landing zone. Landing in a 3 point pose and sending quakes around from the impact, the First Child looked at her opponent.

It had stopped.

"Jet Alone engaging combat subroutines! It's detected the Eva as an impediment to it's objective!" One of the techs from the JA Project sounded over the radio. "Alright Rei, you heard that? It's classified you as a threat. Looks like you'll have to do this the hard way. Be careful out there, we don't know it's combat capabilities." Misato informed over the pilot comm link, both giant robot and giant cyborg now circling each other in a battle stance.

With a ghost of a smile, at the control of her chariot of the soul, Ayanami answered. "Then it has classified me correctly. Unit 00, engaging."

At her will, the orange and grayish white Evangelion broke into a run, aim dead set on the current target. Noticing it's opponent taking the initiative, the robot prepared to intercept with a cross, only to have the attack smash... against a multicolored hexagon with the sound of ringing glass. As it was, it did not have time to dodge as it's opponent, undeterred from it's run, simply brought it's arm extended outwards, sending the cream-colored giant smacking back-first into the ground, several of it's cooling rods breaking off from the force of the impact.

At that moment, Misato Katsuragi wasn't really sure if her eyes were relaying what they were seeing to her brain correctly. "Rei, did you just... clothesline Jet Alone?" At the question from her superior officer, the First Child merely looked at the video link, curious. "It was effective." Looking at her old friend at her side and seeing her shrugging, Nerv's operations commander had to agree that yes, it was. "Fair enough. Continue the operation, Rei."

Seeing her target starting to struggle to get up, Rei once again smiled faintly.

"Acknowledged."

And promptly brought her Eva into an elbow drop against the helpless robot. "Rits, has Rei been watching wrestling?" The by now very confused Major asked the lead scientist of Project E. "It would appear so, yes. This is... unexpected." As Unit 00 put Jet Alone into a leg lock, successfully managing to rip said leg out of the robot, Ritsuko had to admit something.

"It does seem to be working."

It was working indeed, as Rei used the leg to hit her opponent across the tarmac of the testing field, all but exploding said leg in the process. As she watched the meltdown clock go down past 3 minutes, the pilot of Unit 00 willed her giant insult against conventional physics into a run again, watching as Jet Alone, to it's credit, managed to stand on a single leg, prepared to bring both arms down against the opponent which was overwhelming it.

The robot was too slow however, as the colorful Eva threw itself into a dive against it's midsection, once again sending it tumbling into the ground. It tried hitting it's current target, but to no avail as each strike smashed harmlessly against against it's AT Field, unable to stop Unit 00 from ripping out the other leg, and smash it against the robot's body until it broke apart. Having managed to neutralize it's main method of locomotion, Rei got up and brought some distance between her and the severely damaged Jet Alone, watching as it struggled to roll until it was facing the ground...and immediately started using both arms to drag itself as fast as it could towards it's original target.

"Damnit, that thing is stubborn. Rei, neutralize the arms as well. You have another minute and a half until you have to pull back." Misato ordered, watching as the Eva moved to intercept it's target.

As Unit 00 got in front of Jet Alone, it grabbed both of the flailing limbs, using one foot to hold it's head in place against the ground and pulling hard, until with the sound of shredding metal, both coming off with a shower of sparks.

And it's visor promptly turning a blazing red.

"Jet Alone has engaged it's self-destruction sequence! It's going to explode!" One of the techs reported in a panicked voice, prompting Misato to immediately open the comm channel with the pilot. "Rei! It's going to self-destruct! Get out of there!"

But there was simply no time, as the reactor inside the robot reached critical mass and released all of it's energy at once, enveloping both it, the Eva, and several hundred meters around them into super-heated plasma. Thankfully, Rei Ayanami had managed to, however hastily, bring up her AT Field, and she was able to keep the blast at bay with some effort.

She wasn't, however, able to block the quintet of N2 blasts that followed the nuclear explosion. The first child was vaguely aware for a fraction of a second of the Eva's body starting to disintegrate, but before she could scream from the feedback pain, the sheer shock of the explosion sent her world dark.

As the blinding light subsided, Misato watched the screen of the laptop she was sharing with Ritsuko in horror as the status display of the Eva was completely offline, all sensors reportedly destroyed. _There were supposed to be sensors inside the core itself_... _and the Entry Plug_.

"Rei!" As Misato bolted to a parked Humvee nearby and headed to the smoldering remains of Unit 00, Ritsuko only stared with wide eyes at the sight of the utterly destroyed Evangelion, pieces of body and even _a shattered core_ lining the test field, the smoking Entry Plug bent and ruptured near what used to be a state of the art War Machine.

* * *

"Oh wow... how did she even survive that?" Yuria asked as Misato maneuvered her car into the underground parking lot of the hospital, gift package on her lap. "She barely did. Once I got there, she was flat-lining. I managed to hold her on CPR until the emergency unit arrived. Took 4 days and several surgeries to get her out of critical condition." The Major remembered, her face marred with worry even after the fact.

"Huh...guess I got really lucky with only 2 days of hospital time after my first deployment, eh?" The young Ikari wondered aloud, eyes downcast realizing just what she got herself into. Biting her lip, Misato knew she wasn't off the mark.

"Look, Yuria, I'm not going to lie. Being an Eva pilot is extremely dangerous, despite all of us doing our best to back you guys up. Unfortunately, the Evangelions are the only thing standing between us, and the Angels. Plus, if I had known about the self destruct capabilities, I wouldn't have sent Rei in the first place, would've just called an N2 strike and be done with it." At that, the normally pleasant expression on the operations commander's face was replaced with one that made the blood in the Third Child's veins freeze.

"I made sure Mr. Tokita will never put our pilots, or anyone else, into danger again. _Personally_." Thankfully for Yuria's heart, they had arrived at the door to Rei's hospital room, which made Misato's expression change from cold killer to upbeat friend. "So, ready to meet her?" She asked with a completely innocent smile, the sheer degree of the change making the younger woman's brain lag for a second. "Oh, yea. Sure."

"Hello Rei, are you awake? It's Misato, I brought someone who wants to meet you as well." As she listened to the response in the intercom, she could see Yuria's nervousness on her face, despite the young woman's efforts to hide it. "Yes Major, you may come in." Came the very soft voice, almost a whisper. The voice that filled the room as the door opened, however, was most definitely not a whisper.

"Rei-chan! How are you feeling today?" As usual, Katsuragi's energy and exuberance filled the room, leaving both pilots stunned for a little while.

Blinking a few times to get back down to earth, Rei let a very slight smile at the sight of the one person she knew actually cared about her. Then again, an Ayanami smile would be recognized by most people as "looking absolutely neutral", so the gesture unfortunately went unnoticed by the Major. "I am getting better Katsuragi-san. My wounds are continuing to heal, and at this rate I should be able to move back to my apartment in approximately a week."

Rei's smile, however, _was_ noticed by Yuria. Which made her stare. She really should stop doing that, but she found the First Child to be just... _stunning_ now that she could see her properly. She looked like an Angel, a real one and not the abominations they were fighting. "Glad to know, Rei. We can have a celebration when you're released from here, the upper floor is lonely without you around, y'know?" Misato answered, smiling warmly at the injured Eva pilot. And then remembering that _oh right Yuria is here too_.

It took a second of both other occupants in the room staring back at her to get the pilot of Unit 01 to finally break out of her gaze, prompting a vicious blush to spread across her features.

"OH! Oh, yeah, me!" Embarrassed, the Third Child stepped forward, wrapped box in her hands. "Uhhmm... My name's Yuria Ikari. I've been assigned to pilot Unit 01. You may have seen me around the hospital yesterday and the day before. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ayanami." Giving a warm smile and a bow (she hadn't entirely forgotten Japanese manners), she remembered the very bright gift she was holding. "Oh. Ah. Yesterday I saw you in the corridor and you seemed really... bored, so Misato and me took the liberty of getting you a gift!" Smiling tentatively, she gently placed the box in the girl's bed besides her lap.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Ikari-san." Nodding to the girl, she noticed that yes, she was nice indeed. There was the same warmth in those eyes as the one in the Major's. Moving her casted arm stiffly, Rei took the gift into her lap and slowly undid the wrapping. "And thank you for the gift. It is very kind of you." As the only brunette of the room watched the bluenette unwrap her gift with anticipation, she couldn't stop herself going into a diatribe just in case she didn't like it.

"Misato mentioned you like books, but we didn't know what _sort_ of books you like to read, so I kinda... went for a third option. I hope it's ok."

As the Nephilim saw the actual box of the device she was pleasantly surprised. "An Amazoo Ember, and a gift card. That is... a thoughtful choice considering your conundrum." As she powered up the e-book reader/tablet device, she thought to herself. _'She is indeed nice. She sook out and acquired me a gift without having ever talked to me beforehand. Her eyes show concern and kindness just like the Major's. Katsuragi-san is my friend. I shall endeavor so Ikari-san can be one as well.'_

Which is when a mini-firewire cable popped up at the corner of her vision and broke Rei out of her inner dialogue. Following the cable, she could see one Yuria Ikari holding it, and said cable ending on a plug which was already connected to the wall near her bed. "Gotta charge it." She smiled.

Which for a second left a very faintly blushing former Unit 00 pilot scrambling to make her brain come back to reality. She wasn't entirely successful. "Huh?" "The battery doesn't come with a lot of charge, so it's good to make sure it gets a full charge now that you turned it on. Trust me, I'm a systems engineer."

Her brain now thankfully working, Ayanami managed to grab said cable and slot it into the device before she rested it on her bed once more. Avoiding her eyes for a second, she remembered what Fuyutsuki had said to her. _'I know everything I've told you is a lot to process, Rei. But if there is one thing that you take away from this, let it be that memories with people who care for you are the most precious thing in this world.'_ Nodding to the Third Child, she turned her eyes to Misato.

"Katsuragi-san. About that celebration you mentioned, may Ikari-san attend as well?" At that, NERV's operations commander eyes widened, as a sneaky smile graced her features.

"I'm surprised you'd ask. And of course she can, would be awkward not to since she's my roommate now." At that, Rei gave a slightly wider smile, almost perceptible to the human eye. "I see. That is fortunate, we'll all live close to each other then." At that moment, however, a knock on the door interrupted the rare episode of bonding.

"Miss Ayanami? I'm a Nurse, it's time for your shower." The very soft-spoken woman called, patiently waiting at the door. "Guess it's time for us to leave then." Yuria nodded at Misato, then extended her hand to Ayanami.

"Looking forward to talking with you more. Is it okay if I call you Rei?" The Third Child asked, a friendly smile gracing her features. She really made sure to steal Misato's version of this. "That would be... acceptable, yes. Yuria-san."Taking the hand offered, the former pilot let out another ghost of a smile. She was happy right now, she'd admit. Seeing the bluenette calling her by first name as well, the only active pilot of NERV-Tokyo grinned.

Seeing both her friends leaving after saying their goodbyes, Rei hummed an old song as the nurse helped her to the shower. Maybe she wouldn't even have to kill as many people as she planned to.

* * *

Thobiasel grimaced as she got out of the helicopter, the sun was punishing even through her sunglasses. Damn Eiael and her penchant for South America.

As they walked, one of the workers on site approached them. "Thobiasel, ma'am! And agent Osawa. Welcome to the last bastion of Amazon Rain Forest, our forward operating base is over there. The Commander will meet you now." As they approached they could see a small river, filtration plants upstream making so it is a sparkling clear blue instead of the blood red it'd normally be, they saw the expected blue hair framing a pensive face that stared at the waterway.

"Two Thousand Years, sister. They have ruled the world for two momdamned millennia. Their goal is at hand. What are we to do?"

Sitting besides her closest guardian and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, the Guardian of the Sands answered. "I know it's painful to see our home like this, Eiael. But those loyal to us have not been still. While we slept, they did everything they could to give us one final chance when we were awakened. Even as we speak, the Society works in the shadows of the betrayers to be ready to stop their plans when the time comes."

To any passerby, seeing the two blue-haired sisters talking would be a touching sight as the younger one set her jaw, determination growing in her eyes.

"But they need our help. We must do our duty. You are not alone, Guardian of the Springs." At that, Thobiasel got up, offering her hand to her sister. "Come. Let us set this world right once more."

* * *

\- Umbra Fleet, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean-

"How is the progress on the Core and control systems?" A grey-haired admiral asked through the radio, staring at the red drizzle that fruitlessly beat against the glass of the command bridge. What wouldn't he give to see the ocean as it used to be. This red expanse was... unsettling. Foreboding. He could see the streaks of faint red coming down the plates on his ship and the escorts, staining the crescent circle leaves with a being in the center which made up the symbol of this organization.

Down in the bowels of the main ship, the leader of the team currently putting together the final systems and armor plates for the massive body which rested in a lake of LCL grinned as their objective neared completion.

"Less than two weeks to full operational capability, Andersen. Just keep the Kestrel safe for a little while longer." Doctor Chandler answered. Below her, being worked on by several staff members, the deep red orb pulsed in time with the organ connected to it from the Evangelion's Body. The first Core in the world operable without a contact experiment. Right on time, as the leader of IPEA's own Eva project knew that as brilliant as Dr. Akagi was, even she couldn't restore Unit 00 after the JA incident.

""Hopefully that fool of a commander will be already persuaded by the time you're complete..."

As she looked at the fruits of her labor, she grinned. _'God's in his Heaven because we are some crafty bastards._ '

"... Right, Unit Null?"

* * *

As the Eleven monoliths came to life in the darkness, Gendo Ikari, Commander of NERV, was not intimidated. He knew what these old men wanted. He knew how blind they were. They were nothing more than paws in his game. But yet, he had to keep up appearances.

"Gendo. We have come here to discuss the matter of the repairs of Unit 00. The timetable provided is unacceptable to the project." The one labeled SEELE 01 spoke.

"The Evangelions are our weapons against the Angels! They should not be risked against any other minor threats! You have put the entire scenario at risk!" SEELE 07 all but shouted, his temperamental nature well known to everyone involved.

"The project was never at risk." Gendo simply replied, unmoving from his stance with both hands laced in front of his mouth. "We all know anything other than Unit 01 is expendable. It is the only Evangelion needed for Instrumentality as we seek it."

"But we cannot know if Unit 01 alone is enough to defeat the required angels. It has only seen combat once, and it's pilot has not been trained." SEELE 09 argued. Always the scared one.

"That is being tended to. Regardless, the Berlin Branch was already informed that they are to transfer Units 02 and 08 as soon as possible. That will bring our capable Evangelions to the maximum allowed by the Vatican Treaty."Gendo offered. They were as predictable as a clock, as always.

"As of this morning, the Vatican Treaty has been rescinded." SEELE 01 announced to the surprise of every other in the reunion. "We have arranged for a new Unit to be brought for Pilot Ayanami. The German Units will remain in custody of NERV Berlin unless we decide two Evangelions are not enough to combat the Angels. Keep us posted of any developments, Gendo. This meeting is adjourned." At that, the monoliths faded into the darkness, only for the darkness itself to ebb away as the lights on the green room came online.

"Yohanan is playing dangerously, it seems. Even he normally does not try to subvert us this much." Fuyutsuki, which was standing behind Gendo, commented. "They are merely trying to ascertain dominance. They want to be completely sure they will have their kingdom, and that no one will get in their way. Even so, they grow more oblivious by the day. When the time comes, they will be left to a dead world as we, the flock burdened with death, ascend to Instrumentality on our own."

At that thought, Gendo Ikari did the one thing that ushered despair to everyone but him.

He smiled.

* * *

This is it folks, act 3! I'm sorry it went a bit slowly, there was a lot I had to cover before the story could move forwards, and I wanted to make sure to give the main trio a good development. And of course, as to the main plot, the more I explain, the more questions you will have. Trust me, true to the original, there will be plenty of Gambit Pileups!

Please follow if you wish to be notified when I upload a new chapter, and review if you can! And tune in next time, when Yuria finds out that being a pilot ain't all death battles and giant beams of energy.

It' s only mostly death battles and giant beams of energy


	4. Act 4: Of Decisions and Friends

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hideaki Anno, Gainax, you know the story by now...

* * *

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Guardians of the Black Moon

Act 4: Of Decisions and Friends

"Haahhh..." She stretched as she got back to the apartment. Hearing a giggle behind her, Yuria turned to see an amused Misato.

"What? These last 3 days have been tiring, y'know..." She moaned dejectedly as she went to the fridge to heat up the dinner for two she had left premade in the morning. After the first day of pilot training she decided that _no, she would not cook after getting home, thank you very much_.

"Just that you remind me of myself when I got into the army. The start is always the roughest part, kid, don't worry." Misato ruffled her friend's hair as she passed by, getting a single beer from the fridge before sitting down at the table, patiently waiting for the Third Child to reheat the meals in the microwave.

Smirking, Yuria shot back as the food plate turned under the radiation. "You call me kid again and I'll shoot you, Misato. I'm just 8 years younger than you." Despite the threat, both women knew the black haired girl would never do something like that if her life depended on it, although she did have her own sidearm in a thigh holster at all times now.

"You try that and I'll shoot you first. You know I'm faster. And then I'll shoot you again for forcing me to shoot you. And I'll still call you kid, because it's cute." Misato smiled like a cat, beer can open but still nearly full as the contents sloshed around. She had to admit, since Yuria came to the apartment, her daily routine had gotten so much more... pleasant. It was so nice to have a friend at your side even with all the shit that had happened and was yet to come.

"Unfair, you're too good." the pilot-in-training of Unit 01 replied, handing her purple haired friend her warm plate of food as she started heating her own. It was true, after all. In the first day of training, Yuria had taken the lessons of the shooting instructor, a nerdy-looking guy with a massive love of weapons, at heart, and despite the lack of practice did manage to get most rounds in _a_ grouping in the targets. Only for Misato to come into the range and (under the completely bedazzled look of Kensuke Aida who had a crush on her since he became NERV's weapon range instructor) pick up her P99 Walther, and proceed to empty the entire clip at a target 30 meters away with a 2-inch grouping.

Misato thanked for her food before digging in between answers. "It's just practice, you'll get the hang of it. Honestly, for never having shot a real gun before, you're pretty good." Noticing the bruise on Yuria's elbow, the NERV operations director winced. "Ouch. Suzuhara not going easy on you, eh?" Lost in her own thoughts, the tired girl quickly snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh, right, Touji. Yeah, that guy is funny but _godsdamn_ he packs a punch. Even with the training protectors I can still feel it. Still, hand to hand training is fun. I can feel the difference in my body already."

Misato smiled, remembering how in the first day every time she checked up on Yuria she was in the ground in one way or another. Poor girl was tenacious, but just didn't know how to dodge.

As the brunette sat down with her plate, the Major's eyes suddenly snapped open. "Holy crap!" At that, Yuria looked at her surprised. "Wha? What happened?" Misato's eyes were almost shining as she looked at the food and swallowed the bite she had taken. "This sauce. _This sauce is delicious._ Where were you hiding this from me?" At that, the younger woman couldn't help but roll her eyes comically. "I've been chatting with Hikari, y'know, Touji's wife? NERV cantina chef? We've been exchanging tips and recipes and came up with this sauce together yesterday. "

"Heh. Each one of you is a chef to be reckoned with already, with you two together I think NERV should open some restaurants for extra funds." Chuckling, Yuria answered as she enjoyed her food. "What, the action figures and mangas and pillows and all the extra guff we sell not enough? And when do I get _my_ action figure, anyway? I look _awesome_ in that plug suit." In fact, she hadn't liked the plug suit at first. Had too much white in it. But it had grown on her quite quickly, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it perfectly clung to her body and accentuated her curves, and _she'd deny it to her dying breath_.

"Oh! Now that you mention it-" Misato pulled out her phone, thumbing to a picture folder. Handing it over to Yuria, she explained. "Here, the manufacturers sent me these pictures of the pre-production model this afternoon. What do you think?"

To a scream of "My plugsuit DOES NOT HAVE A BOOB WINDOW!", another night came to pass at the Katsuragi residence.

* * *

 _'Insert the clip, rock the slide, switch off the safety, point to mouth, shoot. Insert the clip, rock the slide, switch off the safety, point t-'_ She got out of the daze, looking around the walls of the entry plug. This was the second harmonics testing she's done since becoming a pilot and she already knew this _sucked_. She had to keep her mind clear and focus on syncing with the Eva. Whenever her mind was clear, _bad thoughts came_.

"Her sync ratio just came back to normal, ma'am. That was a 7 point dive for a minute, just like the last few times. I don't understand, pilot Ayanami's sync ratio was constant, if slightly lower. Nothing like this." Maya Ibuki, personal assistant (and lover) of the blonde doctor overseeing the harmonics test, reported. "And yet, during yesterday's virtual combat training, her sync was just fine. I think I've seen this before..."

Letting her assistant watch over the hours-long test, Ritsuko started browsing through the harmonics files from NERV-Berlin. And just as she thought...

 _'Mari Illustrious Sohryu Makinami, Fourth Child. Severe short ratio drops during early harmonics tests. Attributed to suicidal thoughts. History of abuse and parental neglect combined with traumatic experiences thought to be the cause. Use of antidepressants coupled with music of the Child's choice during Harmonics tests achieved good results. Leftover variations disappeared after extended contact with Second Child.'_

"Hmm..." Unbeknownst to her, almost an hour had passed as she contemplated the implications of the similarities. Together with the fact that the Third _alread carried a sidearm_. She did notice how after the first Harmonics test Yuria seemed a lot more depressed than when she went in. This could prove to be problematic...

Nodding to herself, she finally spoke with her assistant. "Let's cut the test here for today, Maya. We have quite a bit of data already." She saw how the drops were becoming more frequent as the test went on. If she lost the pilot of Unit-01, Gendo _would_ kill her. And probably Maya as well, out of sheer spite. Since she had rejected his advances in favor of her protege, the man was even more intractable than before.

"Yuria? Ritsuko here. You can come out, the test is done for today. Thank you for your cooperation. Could you come to the control room after you change out of your plugsuit? There's something I wish to ask."

Looking for all like she had just been a robot turned back on, the Third Child blinked into awareness, looking at the blonde scientist in her intercom. "Ah, yes. I'll be on my way as soon as I can, Doctor Akagi." Now, what time was it again? Oh, right... she should probably go pick up Rei with Misato soon, hopefully this talk won't take too long, she wondered, as she coughed out the remnants of LCL in her lungs and made her way to the dressing rooms for a well deserved bath to take the smell of blood off.

As the wet-haired woman got into the control room, Maya and Ritsuko stopped chatting to turn to her. "Sorry for calling you here Yuria, but as I'm also your doctor I need to ask you something. Do you have suicidal thoughts often?" At Akagi's sudden question, the taller (not by much) brunette in the room did a double take.

Ritsuko Akagi had many talents. Tact wasn't one of them.

Scratching her hair, Yuria looked off to the side. _This was awkward_. "Uhmm... not... normally, no, maybe a few times every few days? I try to keep my mind busy to avoid them... are they interfering with my piloting?" She asked, somewhat worried. These thoughts were something that, as much as she tried, _always_ popped back up, like a cancer.

"Not in combat situations, no, but in Harmonics tests it seems so. It's not critical, but it would help if we could somehow avoid the drops in ratio that they seem to bring. You say you keep them at bay by keeping your mind occupied, yes?" At that, the pilot nodded. "Would playing music during the tests help?" At that, she pondered for a few seconds. It just might, and if she can avoid these thoughts, all the better. Resisting them took considerable energy now that she had the means to end it all at any moment.

"It's worth a shot, yeah. Uhmm.. I'm sorry about causing you trouble, Doctor. I didn't mean to. I'm fucked pretty badly in the head." At that, she somehow smiled and tapped her forehead. Dark Humor was something she was always good at. "If you don't mind me asking though... how did you guess?" She was curious, when Akagi asked it was more of a statement than anything else.

Smiling forlornly, the blonde in the white coat turned off her electronic cigarette.

"We work in a secret underground base with giant cyborgs to fight giant aliens. Trust me, most people here are off their rockers, me included. Not to mention the Fourth Child, current pilot of Unit-08 in Germany, had extremely similar occurrences in her initial tests. Her name's Mari Sohryu Makinami."

At Yuria's surprised expression, Ritsuko continued. "I'll send her contact info to your email. But don't even think about flirting with her, she's married to Asuka, the pilot of Unit-02." "Wha? But I didn't even say anything!" She countered, blushing. "No, but I've seen the looks you throw at Misato when she's not looking, and the way you talk to Ayanami. You're on the prowl, kid, and it seems those two are already in your fingers. Fair warning though: This one is taken." At that, she wrapped her arm around Maya's shoulders, pulling her close and smiling, to the infinite embarrassment of the assistant which was blushing brighter than an Angel energy beam at this point.

Cocking her head to the side, Yuria was also blushing at what the doctor had implied, but the scene before her was too cute to bear. "Aww... I'm happy for you two." Smiling genuinely, her mind recovered from the cute. "But I'm NOT 'on the prowl', Doc! Geez... Misato and Ayanami are just friends, is all..." She said unconvincingly even to herself, eyes adverted to the side. It was true, they were just friends, but she was getting closer to both women at a very rapid pace.

"Right... for now anyway. You can call me Ritsuko, Yuria. Thank you for being honest with me. Make sure to bring a selection of musics you enjoy to the next Harmonics text after tomorrow, alright? And remember to come to me when you run out of antidepressants." Extending her hand amiably, the blonde gently shook her lover with her arm, bringing her back to reality. "Oh! Right. You can call me just Maya as well, Yuria-san. I'm sorry if Senpai made you uncomfortable, she's very... direct." After shaking the doctor's hand, Yuria laughed and shook Maya's as well.

"It's alright, I don't mind at all. But only if you drop the -san, Maya."

As she watched the two brunettes, her lover and the very friendly pilot chatting for a bit, both smiling, Ritsuko reminded herself that yes, she most definitely had made the right choice.

* * *

She raised her .38 revolver to aim at the man standing near the table with her back to her. She may be no marksman, but at this distance even she wouldn't miss.

Rioji Kaji, official inspector and unofficial spy and triple agent extraordinaire, calmly raised his hands and turned to his old affair.

"Hey, Ritz. Working late as always, huh?" He smiled, completely void of worries despite the gun aimed at his head. He was unarmed, and she could see it.

"You're supposed to be dead." The blonde countered, aim unwavering as she slowly put down her purse with her free hand, slowly circling the man that had gotten inside her house and had a _big_ folder in the table near him.

"Aha, but you see, I was only _mostly_ dead. Gendo's assassins really should've confirmed the body. But anyway-" Stretching as he let out a big yawn, he took seat at the chair nearest to him and motioned towards the folder. "-I got some material for you. You may not believe some things I'll tell you, but the proof is all here. Long story short? You have a choice, Ritz. And if I know you well, and I do, you're not so far gone to make the wrong one."

The next 4 hours were some of the most turbulent that ever crossed the mind of Doctor Ritsuko Akagi. The implications, the _situations_ this supposedly dead man was describing were... absurd. But he had the proof, and she had seen that no matter how absurd, the proof was there. There was another path.

As he was about to make his exit, Ritsuko stopped him. "Wait, Kaji. Does Misato know any of this?" At that, he looked genuinely sad. "No. It's too soon. We'll bring her in when the time is right, but for now she needs to stay in the dark. She's too nice for her own good." Akagi grimaced. "She still thinks you are _dead_. Did you not know just _how much she suffered_ when she figured you were dead last year, Rioji?"

The not-so-dead spy looked guiltily to the side as he answered. "I know... I saw her. The sight of her crying looking at her phone will never go away from my mind. It was agony not being able to tell her the truth, and to be honest, it still is. But we only have once chance, Ritz. If we fuck this up.." He left the rest of the phrase in the air, but the doctor knew what he meant. If she were to accept, she'd be trying to disrupt a two thousand years old plan for the end of humanity. She'd be betraying the man she worked for since she was a teenager. She'd need to thread _very_ carefully _._

Out of things to say, Rioji Kaji took his leave. It was up to her, and her alone, to decide.

* * *

Running up to the now repaired Alpine A310 V6, Yuria nearly threw herself in the passenger seat. Gasping for breath, she looked apologetically at Misato. "Hahh.. sorry... I'm late...hahh...Ritsuko wanted to ... phew... talk with me about the test..." Looking at her friend surprised, the Major asked. "Did you just _run_ all the way from the test room to the parking lot?" At the Third Child's sheepish nod, she could only chuckle. This girl was rock-hard crazy, and she enjoyed it.

"Well, strap in, we're not late to go get Rei in the hospital yet." It was a good thing that Yuria had just about caught her breath, because she needed it to scream as Misato threw the _very much not stock_ sports car into traffic with maniacal precision and speed.

As they reached a parking space, the brunette looked back, for she thought _the paint of the car was probably still arriving._ But no, it was all there. She didn't know how much money Misato spent on tires every month, but she'd guess _a lot_. Thanking all the gods she knew by name that the thing had racing harnesses, she undid hers and wobbly made her way to the elevator with an inhumanly relaxed Katsuragi.

Thankfully, by the time they arrived at the reception, her blood had time to come back to her face. Rei was patiently waiting, sitting in a chair with her eyes glued to her Ember, completely oblivious to the world. Yuria was happy that she got the gift right, the bluenette was nearly inseparable from the device through her stay in the hospital. And looking a lot less bored, which was an almost perceptible difference if you had a microscope.

Or had the Third Child's uncanny skill at reading people. In the few days since she had met Rei, she had come to understand her expressions and mannerisms. Ayanami was very reserved, but she was also very expressive in her own way, and apparently incapable of lying. A lot of what she said was via her eyes and her very small body movements, conveying the feelings that she wasn't able to with just her voice yet.

Then again, as Misato discovered to her befuddlement, Yuria could have a minutes-long conversation with PenPen without saying a single word. The penguin had taken quite a liking to the girl since she arrived at the Katsuragi residence, which was unusual to him. According to her, it was because she liked cats so she knew how to communicate without words. According to Misato, she was just crazy.

The truth probably laid somewhere in the middle. _Probably_.

* * *

When the trio arrived at what Yuria had unofficially named "The Lair of the Hot Eva Babes", the darker-haired pair asked Rei to close her eyes as they approached the Katsuragi apartment. They decided to use it for this occasion since both it was bigger, and Ayanami herself tended to spend more of her free time here before the accident than in her own home.

"Welcome Back Rei!" Several voices called out happily when she opened her eyes, widening them to very un-Ayanami dimensions when she saw just how many people were welcoming her back.

Touji, the fitness instructor at NERV, and his wife and cafeteria chef, Hikari, were there. A cake made both by her and Yuria was sitting on the table. Touji, as usual, was being very expressive in his cheering. Then the range instructor, Kensuke, was also there smiling widely with a suspiciously shotgun-sized present in his hands.

But what surprised her the most were the last 2, the 'bridge bunny' Maya and Ritsuko Akagi, the former cold doctor who used to barely tolerate her, but had warmed up considerable in private after she was brought into the conspiracy. As she gave Rei a warm nod, as if confirming that yes, she was actually here, the bluenette found out that she had way more friends than she imagined.

Which is when the flash of Aida's camera nearly blinded her, him shouting something about her actually smiling. He was silly, she smiled often. But the picture, of her _visibly_ smiling, both Yuria Ikari and Misato Katsuragi hugging her with one arm and cheering, would become one of her most prized possessions.

Which is when all their phones started ringing... together with the Angel Attack Siren.

* * *

As the Suzuhara couple ran to a nearby shelter, all 5 critical NERV employees bundled into Misato's car, Maya asking _why was there a nitrous oxide tank under the back seat_ just before Katsuragi virtually catapulted them towards the HQ.

As the rose in the elevator towards the Eva cages and Control Center, Rei noticed everyone was tense at having to fight another angel when they thought they'd be celebrating. She'd read that comedy was a good way to help ease tension. "Some say the X66 Evangelion Fast Deployment System was adopted by NERV-Berlin after they saw the Major drive. They were never able to reproduce the results, however."

At first, it was just a suppressed giggle from Maya and Yuria as the older women were stunned into silence. And then Misato started howling and slapping the wall trying to catch her breath. Truly, things had become _even weirder_ in their little slice of heaven-topped hell. Only much later would they realize that Rei spent most time in the hospital not only reading books in her Ember, but also watching _Top Gear_ episodes.

As both pilots made their way to the dressing room, Yuria finally realized that _yes, Rei was also going to the dressing room_. As she hurriedly put on her plugsuit, she turned to see Rei doing her best to do the same with her still stiff arm. Even with the emergency situation, she noticed that _gods, Ayanami was hot_. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she gently held the bluenette's recently broken arm that she was trying to slide into the suit.

"Rei, no! You still haven't healed properly! Hell, Unit Null arrived just this afternoon, we haven't even tested it yet! We don't even know if it'll activate!" The concern on her voice was plain to see. She did _not_ want to have this girl get into a fight for her life _the day she left the hospital_. She did _not_ want to see her friend in danger.

Red eyes met brown ones, and where one was filled with concern, the other was filled with determination. "Yuria. If you had a chance, however small, of helping protect the ones you care about, would you take it?" At that the brunette looked down, fighting herself. After a few tense seconds, she helped Ayanami put on her suit. "You make me regret this, I swear I'll make a very bad cake for your second welcome home party." "Deal. You get yourself in the hospital, I won't save a piece of the first cake for you." The bluenette countered, making Yuria smile. "Deal. Let's go kick this thing's ass and get back to your party, First Child."

* * *

"OH FOR FUCK'S SA- YOU'RE JUST CHEATING NOW!" The pilot of Unit-01 shouted as she worked hard to deflect the Angel's energy whips with her AT Field, having to change it's angle as they tried to harm her from every single direction, apparently able to change length at will. She was able to score a few glancing hits when the thing was only using energy blasts, her new training being put to good use, but apparently that pissed it off and now she was firmly in the defensive, two DMRs and one Pallet Rifle laying destroyed between the purple behemoth and the Angel in the early night.

The city was already fairly damaged, the being's limbs tearing through buildings as if they were paper. That, coupled with the energy blasts, meant more and more horrible mountains of paperwork Misato would have to go through, provided they survive.

"Misato! Kinda need a new strategy here! This thing is angry at me!" As she dodged another swipe, Yuria managed to will her machine of destruction to grab one of the thing's glowing whips, ignoring the painful feedback in her hands as she unsheathed a Progressive Knife and brought it down on the wiggling offender, cutting part of the tentacle off.

Only to see the Angel easily regrow said part and restart the attack. Tonight was going to be a _sucky_ night. Which is when she heard Misato shouting something about Unit Null Launch, and the creature's back exploding as High Explosive, Armour Piercing Incendiary 600mm rounds made their way towards it, letting Unit-01 get some distance from her attacker... and for Yuria to notice just _what in the hell_ was Unit Null.

Armour far more aggressive than Unit-01, no visible eyes, 3 pylons on it's shoulders instead of only one, and painted in a mix of greys and faded asphalt with thin orange highlights, the thing looked downright _murderous_. The fact that it was continuously pelting the angel with a hail of pistol fire one-handed probably contributed to that. As the being shifted it's attention to the new threat, the Third Child saw an opening as Misato was relaying her the plans – and immediately grabbed a Progressive Glaive she sent, slicing the weapon into the Angel's unprotected side and managing to nick the Core.

A satisfying howl echoed in the air as Shamshel, ruler of the Fourth Heaven, felt it's receptacle of the soul being attacked by the shadows of the father. _This would not stand_.

Grabbing the offending object with it's arm, it could feel as the weapon was broken in half, now useless in the arms of it's enemy. And then it howled in pain again as the shadow closest to it brought it's other hateful weapon, a dagger, to bear on it's Core, scoring another nick.

 _Enough was enough_ , the being decided, as it wrapped one of it's whips around the shadow's leg, bringing it swinging overhead to smash it into the ground, the impact shaking the very earth that he did not touch, only to repeat the attack again and again until the insult against Father was unresponsive, finally sending it flying towards the warped shadow in the distance, waiting as it fell, and fell.. The warped shadow was moving to catch it, but it was for naught as Shamshel once more pulled his fake head back, his true face sending a massive blast of energy to finally end the existence of these affronts to Father and finally be able to reunite with Him.

Both Evas were hit by the beam, the already battered Unit-01 bouncing back as it landed directly on it, and Unit Null sent tumbling back by the sheer force, AT-Field or not.

* * *

"Yuria, come in! Rei, come in!" Misato barked, the sensors in the Control Room unable to properly analyze what was happening because of the energy output of the Angel.

Coughing, the First Child responded. "Unit Null here, me and 01 are in a ditch out of the beam's way." Another cough. "I have a plan."

As the angel stopped it's attack, unable to sense the Shadows anymore, it turned once more to it's objective, when several gun batteries in the mountains started to light up it's AT Field, their bullets not able to penetrate, but very much able to annoy it.

As the angel was busy showing it's annoyance via energy beams, Unit Null was able to shook Unit-01 awake. "Uugh... did anyone get the license plate of that Angel" At that, Rei smiled. Yuria could make her smile even in the middle of a life or death battle. Truly, she was a friend worth protecting.

"Yuria, listen. Misato and me came up with a plan. While it's distracted with the gun batteries, we will both rush it single file. I'll have my AT Field at max to make it focus on me. When it does, I'll dodge, and then you bring your AT Field to max as well and hit it when it's distracted with me. Got it?" Rei asked, her face completely serious. Yuria wanted to argue, she really did, but the look on Ayanami's face was just too determined.

"Here, take my Progressive Daggers. I'm just the decoy. We'll likely get one chance at this. Ready?" Taking the weapons from the pylons in Unit Null's elbows, Yuria turned them on, the humming feeling reassuring in her hand. Nodding to her friend inside the grey and asphalt monstrosity, they both broke into a run, Unit Null in front with her AT Field at full power, and Unit 01 behind her, AT Field at minimum until the last moment.

Shamshel felt the abomination in shadow form approaching it from behind, it's light of the soul shining brightly. Apparently the fully powered beam was not enough to extinguish it. No matter, one was already dealt with, and this one would fall as well. Bringing it's energy arms to bear, he waited until the shadow was close enough so it couldn't dodge, and sent both of them hurtling it's way, intent on piercing instead of slashing.

Rei saw the energy whips coming as she ran towards the Angel. Truth be told, with her sync ratio in Unit Null at a steady 79%, she could probably dodge them, but that was not the plan. The one to her left was caught easily by her Eva's arm, the pain of holding it annoying but bearable... the one to her right, however, was moving too fast, and her own stiff right arm meant that the movement of her Eva was also stiff.. and too slow, as the whip of light impaled her shoulder, making her cry out. Of course, this was the part of the plan she did _not_ tell either Misato or Yuria, which were both crying out her name in worry.

However, now she did have a good grip on both energy whips. Throwing all her energy into her Eva's legs, she willed her war machine to jump over the Angel, forcing it to become temporarily defenseless... against the now very angry pilot of Unit 01 and her 60 meter tall companion, which was at that very moment in the middle of a jump that would get all her energy from the run plus her weight to make impact with the Angel's Core through the Progressive Daggers it was holding in a reverse grip.

Shamshel couldn't, indeed, block or react in time as the Daggers pierced it's receptacle of the soul, sparks flowing everywhere like water. The wail that cut through the night was nothing short of horrific as the being felt it's very sense of self ebb away. However, it would not die quietly, and it would not die alone. Pulling back it's fake head once more, it's actual face shot everything it had left against the shadow of the father that was wounding it so.

"Aaahh...ghhhh..." Yuria had to concentrate with all her might to keep the blades in against the torrent of energy that was assaulting her Eva. She could hear the many warnings the automated systems were giving her, one of them about armor plates _melting_ if she heard correctly through the feedback pain. Why would this thing not _die_ already!? She was starting to lose her grip. No. Not like this. She wouldn't fail Misato and Rei like this...

"If I'm correct, making the owner of the party do all the work is very rude..." They all heard Ayanami say all of a sudden, a sick _squelching_ sound accompanying her pained scream as she pulled out the energy whip that had impaled her Eva's shoulder, letting go of the whips and using her war machine's weight to push the blades deeper with her feet as she fell. Finally, with a resounding cracking sound, the Core shattered, the Angel slumping to the ground, it's once glowing whips disappearing into embers.

* * *

In the airspace above Tokyo-3, Eiael smiled as she saw the corpse of the hated betrayer fall dead. The military jet that brought her here, a SU30 BM, was circling over the fight since the start. She'd have a lot of compliments for the two Lilim that brought the beast down, and now that she had her role as IPEA's Tokyo-3 ambassador, she would have free access to NERV and the Children. She sighed, finally safe to take off her helmet and let her now long, dark hair flow freely

She was to go straight into the Den of Sin, and she would _bring it down_.

* * *

This is it folks, Act 4! I'm sorry this took so long, real life brought me down with a bad case of the depressions, but a playthrough of Saya no Uta cured it!

I also didn't feel like forcing this chapter out if I thought it'd end up sub par. Quality versus Quantity, people! Please review if you wish, and follow if you want to be notified when the next chapter drops!

Ciao!


	5. Act 5: Of Truths and Memories

I am _extremely_ sorry about the delay, I was simply having no luck getting the story from my brain to the file. With that, I hope that everyone enjoys!

Neon Genesis Evangelions is property of Hideaki Anno and Studio Khara. I'm not making any money from this.

* * *

Act 5: Of Truths and Memories

"Hmmm..." Yuria half-moaned as she opened her eyes. Her body ached _everywhere_. And she realized she was sleeping in the sofa, and there were a few party remains littered around. Slowly, her brain worked to piece together last night.

Right, Angel. Being used as a 60 meter tall drumstick. Rei getting stabbed in the shoulder, and her own face almost having been burned off. Coming back to the apartment with Katsuragi and Ayanami, all three exhausted, and being coaxed by Misato into drinking at least wine.

The Third looked down near the sofa and saw an empty bottle of wine carefully placed right next to her. If her screaming tastebuds were any indication, mixing cake and wine and then sleeping on it was not one of her brightest ideas ever.

Looking over at the kitchen and seeing the empty vodka bottle in the counter, however, made her think that Misato was probably having it worse. When she woke up. Eventually.

Unpocketing her phone and rubbing the sore spot it left thanks to being under her weight all night, the bright screen assaulted her eyes as she saw the time.

'5:30 AM'.

As always. For some reason she couldn't sleep late most days, the nightmares kicked her out of her rest too effectively. Resigning herself to her torment, she started to carefully make her way to the bathroom.

After all, Rei was sleeping in Ikari's bed after blacking out last night having barely touched the wine. She and the Major had to carry her, and Yuria insisted on letting the bluenette have the bed. For some reason, the idea of Ayanami sleeping on a cramped couch unsettled her. She was better than that. The (unbeknownst to her) Nephilim always had a regal, almost ethereal aura about her person.

And then Yuria realized she was staring at said Nephilim sleeping through the crack in the semi-open door, a comforting warmth inside her chest. Blinking herself back to reality, the brunette decided to wait to get her meds after Rei woke up. She'd just take a shower in the meantime, as Katsuragi found out much to her displeasure that Yuria's showers could last a long, long time.

* * *

The UN's 3rd fleet smoothly sailed through the Sea of Japan, having been scrambled to take the Eva's the last leg of their journey thanks to a bad thunderstorm that made the long distance air carriers have to land in Old China. Luckily, it seemed the storm wasn't strong enough to bother their ships.

In the room they were given, the slightly shorter one from the pair known as 'The Demons of the Baltic' awoke, feeling her partner's arms wrapped around her protectively, the warmth of a very familiar body pressed against her back. The redhead sighed happily. 6 years ago, she wouldn't have even dreamed of being in another girl's, nay, woman's now, arms like this, let alone one that loved her as much as she needed to be loved.

Then again, the Asuka Langley Sohryu of 6 years ago was a big ball of self-doubt and anger, despite her father's best efforts.

And then this crazy, weird British four-eyes appeared, she fondly remembered, looking at the table near their bed, the red-framed glasses sitting on top of it just like every other morning she woke up to in the last 2 years.

At first, she was excited that there'd be a rival to compete with when she heard the Fourth was being transferred to her branch. And then they met, and she decided she absolutely, positively _hated_ this new girl. She was too physical, too quick to talk and moved too close, and her upbeat attitude made Asuka want to strangle kittens.

And worst of all? _She would not leave her alone_. No matter what, Mari Makinami would follow her around doing her absolute best to engage in a conversation, like an annoying shadow. Eventually, she just learned to live with it, trying to tone-out the, much to her annoyance, more well endowed girl day by day. And yet, with every battle they fought, every time Asuka's temperament exploded on her, _she was there_.

Unknowingly, Asuka came to rely on and expect her, at this point, friend, to be at her side always.

Which is why when she went to the mess hall to have dinner one night and did not find Mari there, the Second felt the need to check the girl's bedroom to see if she was alright. For the first time in her life, she had let someone inside the barriers she erected after her mother's death. And if Makinami was always, _always_ there for her, she would do the same. She forced herself to think it was just that, and not also the warm feeling she felt when the other girl hugged her, poked her, or ruffled her hair.

As Asuka went to knock on the door to the British girl's bedroom, the German heard something that she thought she would _never_ associate with Mari.

Sobbing.

Worry for someone else was not something the Second Child felt often, but at that moment she felt her chest tighten painfully. Deciding to forego knocking and simply gently opening the door, she saw her friend, sitting on the ground hugging her legs and crying, her head tucked down near her knees. She could see her knuckles damaged from where she had been punching the wall, small blood smears still on it.

Asuka couldn't tell exactly why, but a force, something stronger than anything she'd ever felt before, made her hurry to her friend's side, kneeling besides her and pulling into a hug. At first, the other girl merely continued to cry, until she smelled the faint strawberry aroma that always accompanied Sohryu.

* * *

Her brain struggled to process it at first, but it was unmistakable. That was Asuka's smell. That was enough to make her mouth betray her and whisper the name of the girl she's been doing her absolute best to make happy since she arrived. And then she actually noticed the situation. Asuka had seen her breaking down. And come to comfort her.

Shit.

 _This was not supposed to happen_.

Quickly looking up at her friend and trying desperately to wipe her eyes, she managed to put on a shaky smile and hide her hands.

"Ah...Princess! Hi! I was... I had dropped something and... I... I..." But she just couldn't keep talking, as Asuka pulled her into a hug once again, holding the Fourth's head gently into her chest and caressing Mari's hair, whispering.

"It's okay. I'm here for you."

Just as she had done to Sohryu many, many times in the last few months.

Too much was too much, and Mari broke down in sobs again, holding tightly onto Asuka's shirt, the other girl the only thing keeping her alive since she arrived.

* * *

Coming out of her memory, the redheaded German gently took the hand that was over the top of her body, careful to not wake up her wife who was still resting. Bringing it close to her lips, she gently kissed the knuckles. There were no scars, but then again Mari never had any, somehow. Looking at her partner's other hand, it's arm extended under her pillow, she could see the faint glimmer of the ring that matched hers.

Smiling, she whispered their promise one more time.

"Together, always and forever."

* * *

Eiael smiled faintly as she left Gendo's office. The commander's meeting with 'Anna Cardoso' had went seemingly without a hitch, but she could easily tell the Lilim... if he could even be called that anymore, was furious inside. She was an unknown. Another 'insignificant' wrench that he'd have to account in his plan.

If only he had any idea how many wrenches there were, Rokobungi would not be so dismissive of IPEA's 'Inspection Agent'.

Going by the rumors that she heard from the base personnel (Mostly the male ones who were very... _talkative_ when near her), the residents of the "Lair of the Hot Eva Babes" weren't the only ones to throw quite a party last night, as Doctor Ritsuko had almost bitten the head off one of the lower engineers when he spoke too loudly near her this morning. It was high time to reward the bottle blonde for her work in benefit of the Society.

* * *

As she mulled over the reports coming in from the field science teams scavenging yet another Angel, the chief scientist of project E was currently in a deadly battle with her body to stop the monumental headache she currently had. Painkillers, extra water, _IV Drips_ , nothing seemed to work much.

And she couldn't even lay her head in her lover's lap and let Maya stroke her hair, because for one said tech was doing routine maintenance in the MAGI cores, and for another she had it just as bad if not worse.

Which is why when she glanced at the surveillance system telling her that a Code White had just entered her lab, Akagi didn't even bother to check the actual ID.

"Good afternoon Rei, didn't expect to see you here today. Something you need?" She said hoarsely, not moving her head to not make things worse. What she _didn't_ expect was to hear a low electronic whine from behind her and all recording devices on her room to fizzle out.

Eyes quickly sharpening and deciding to rotate her chair to face the intruder, her hand slipped inside her labcoat near her .38 that she carried since she started working at NERV. As she noticed how instinctive the reaction was, Ritsuko missed the days when she _didn't_ have to carry a gun to work.

Putting her hands up, the dark-skinned beauty merely smiled gently at the Doctor. Sure, she could stop the bullet with her AT Field, and failing that the shot would cause negligible damage anyway thanks to the power of her soul inhabiting this vessel, but the sound might attract unwanted attention.

"You may relax, Akagi-San. I mean you no harm. I merely needed some privacy from prying eyes when talking to you." Noticing the badge the woman was wearing, Ritsuko took her hand away from her holster...mostly.

"IPEA Inspection Agent Anna Cardoso. Assigned to overwatch our usage of Unit Null as per your agency's conditions. How may I help you?" The blonde replied, using her professional tone.

With a smirk, 'Anna' pulled a chair and took seat. "Please, Doctor. In private, you may use my real name." When the Guardian opened her eyes after blinking, they were solid black.

A solid wave of sheer _information_ hit Ritsuko's mind at that moment, leaving the doctor dazed for a second. Gathering her bearings, she now knew.

"Eiael. Guardian of the Springs." At the black eyed woman's nod, Akagi finished processing all that she was told in a split second.

"I'm happily impressed. Now we have a Guardian herself among the top staff. This should make things easier." However, something clicked in her mind.

"Wait... Jet Alone's Self Destruction..."

Knowing where she was going, the black haired woman completed her phrase.

"Was an accident. We would never put a pilot under such risk knowingly. Unit Null was meant to supplant the original Evas, not replace them. Luckily, Zerogoki's core was mostly salvageable, even if the body was not, correct?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ritsuko's interest was piqued on where this conversation was heading. "With a lot of effort, yes. But the point is moot, we cannot both fix the core and create a new body within the time we have."

"Moot or not is for you to decide. However, you should do so with the full information." Getting up from the chair she had pulled, Eiael handed the head of project E a strip of paper.

 _'M2:\SB27\SYS\AUTO\MAINT\SUB\SUB74D\'_

Easily recognizing that the address meant, "Directory within Balthasar." she stated to herself in curiosity.

"Change the main file's extension from .ast to .bat and it should ask for a password." The Guardian added.

* * *

SHINING STAR

The words blinked on her laptop's screen sitting at the command prompt while Ritsuko gathered the courage to press enter. Just as Eiael had said, within System Bay 27 of Balthasar the directory, and the files, existed.

Checking the connection to the Bay one more time, she took a deep breath and finally confirmed the password.

* * *

Naoko Akagi looked into the camera, her monitor showing the recording was running successfully.

"Hello my daughter. If you are seeing this, it means the Society still stands, and you have joined it. I trusted you would." Blinking a few times and taking a deep breath, she had to keep herself strong and not cry. "It also means that we are coming to the most critical points in trying to stop SEELE. In this folder I have sealed every single detail and backdoor into the MAGI, Evangelions, and the Ayanami project that there is."

Looking at the two frames on her desk, one holding a picture of her and Ritsuko and the other of her and Rei I, she continued.

"I am... extremely sorry for being so distant and pushing you away in recent months. It broke my heart to do it, but I simply could not bear with you knowing what I've been doing and am about to do. So I chose to let you know in this message instead, years later. I...am sorry for my cowardice, my child.

You have asked me many times why I was making an effort to befriend and care for Rei when we both know that she will be the soul for Unit 00's control system. The truth is... she's simply not enough."

Leaning back into the chair, she continued.

"Her soul is not developed enough. She hasn't made enough connections with people. And yet, as you are aware, we do not have the time to fix that. So I came up with another fix. My soul will be absorbed into the core as well." Sighing, the leader scientist of Gehirn's Project E rubbed her tired eyes.

"So for the best possible compatibility, I've been doing my best so Rei creates an emotional bond with me. At least... that was the initial intention. I was desperate to push you away so you wouldn't find out that your mother was manipulating the equivalent of a 5 year old girl only to sacrifice her better."

At that, she just couldn't hold it anymore. The next words were coupled with tears.

"As time passed, I... legitimately started to care for Rei. I wanted to make what little time she had better, if I could." Under tears, she chuckled. "She reminds me of you, you know... she's so smart. So curious. Truly a wonderful child like you were... and the sole reason I've created her was to be sacrificed." Propping her elbows on her desk and cupping her face with her hands, the elder Akagi allowed herself a single sob.

"Gods... what have I become..." she mumbled to herself, not caring anymore if she was being recorded.

However, she was interrupted by a soft knock on the door to her lab.

"Mom? Are you there? It's food time, you have to eat too!" A perky, childish voice came through. Quickly clearing her throat, Naoko answered. "Yes, I'm here dear. I'll be coming out in a minute." Turning back to the camera and wiping her tears, her last few sentences were a a faint forlorn whisper.

"She... has taken to calling me Mom recently." A deep sigh.

"The contact experiment is tomorrow. What I am doing is unforgivable, but I pray that... at least I somehow managed to reduce the pain you will go through. Words cannot convey how sorry I am, my daughter. I hope... I hope you find someone that loves you and manage to have a happy life after all this is over. Goodbye, my Shining Star."

Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Naoko Akagi stopped the recording and set everything in place for her last hours.

* * *

Maya was surprised when she saw her mentor crawling out of the Magi's storage bays. Even more surprised was what she saw in Ritsuko's eyes. A mix of pain, guilt, pride, calm, maybe even some... hope? It was like a storm raging within the scientist's green eyes, and the young tech was caught within it.

"Sen...pai? Are you alright?" Her voice was as unsure as her expression.

"I... don't know, Maya. Can you come with me to Unit Zero's core holding bay? I have something I need to talk about with you."

* * *

A lazy evening was the law at the Katsuragi residence, with said Major having went to work while the First Child was still sleeping and the Third having made her breakfast. The brunette was worried about her friend when she slept until noon, but according to the Nephilim, she just could not get up earlier as much as she tried.

After a light lunch made, as always, by Yuria, she offered to help Ayanami to air out her apartment since the bluenette had stayed in the hospital for quite some time. What both didn't expect was that it'd take the entire afternoon, but in the year and a half that the pilot of Unit Null spent in this new living arrangements, she had gotten a fair amount of furniture and clothing and, much to the longer-haired woman's surprise (and glee), stuffed plushies.

Having ran out of things that they actually had to do, the two ended up in a somewhat awkward, somewhat comfortable silence. Rei had found a nice place in the carpet to read her Ember, and Yuria was browsing the web on her much beloved laptop while sitting in the sofa with her legs crossed. Or rather, it was what she was pretending to do while she actually stole looks at the bluenette. So she decided to actually do something about it.

Putting her computer carefully to the side, she span her body so her legs were against the backrest of the sofa and her head was dangling from the edge of the seating upside down, looking at Ayanami.

"Rei?"

"Hm-" She was about to answer, but with her attention stolen by the story she was reading, she hadn't noticed her fellow pilot's... curious current position.

"...Yuria, you are sitting upside down." She knew she was stating the obvious, but right now her brain wasn't really able to put it any other way. Sometimes the slightly older woman just did... weird things. It was amusing, even if she couldn't properly express it.

"I was bored. Anyroad, I don't think I've actually asked you yet: What type of stuff _do_ you like to read?" The brunette asked, stretching her arms, which, in her current position, gave Rei a _very_ generous view of her cleavage.

For as much as Ayanami had learned of social intricacies since she stopped taking the cocktail of meds that Dr Akagi used to give her, a significant amount of tact still was to be learned, and so, she did as her body asked her to, and she stared.

Intently.

It was odd, she thought, that her friend's body would have the current effect of making her blush and feel like the room temperature had raised a few degrees, considering that her own body didn't make her feel that way. Sure, she was aware of the common male-female attraction, but she was female, and so was Yuria, regardless of what sex she was born as.

Rei Ayanami decided this matter needed further study when possible.

And then she realized that the entire time it took her to think all that she was still staring at the brunette's breasts, and said woman had very much noticed and was blushing furiously...if doing nothing to stop her from looking. Clearing her throat while diverting her eyes, the First Child finally remembered what her friend has asked her.

"I have never thought about it, but I believe..." the bluenette searched through her memories "Mostly mystery and science fiction. Some adventure and history as well." Focusing on her friend's _eyes_ this time, she asked back "What about you? I have seen you reading a few times as well."

Deciding that Rei's sudden recover back to the matter meant she should drop it, Yuria answered without thinking. "Romance." At Ayanami's head tilting to the side, she decided to complement her answer. "Well, and adventure, drama and science fiction, I think. But honestly...as long as there is romance, I will probably read it. If there is lesbian romance, I will _definitely_ read it."

At that, the Nephilim lowered her head slightly. "I have tried reading romance stories before. They are very interesting but... confusing. I have no frame of reference to real life experiences to understand the stories properly." Her eyebrows just barely creased. "It is... annoying."

At that, Yuria experienced many emotions in a very short while. First, surprise. Then, understanding. Followed by sadness, which was then followed by _anger_. _A lot of it._ It normally took a _lot_ to make her angry. Hell, she couldn't even be angry at _that_ girl despite what she'd done.

With Gendo however, knowing that he virtually emotionally crippled a wonderful person that was quickly becoming very important to her, that _awakened_ something within her. A _beast._ Unconsciously balling her hands into fists, her voice wavered as she confirmed what she thought.

"Gendo?"

It was something that she very rarely used, but an expression of disgust was clearly visible on Rei's face. "Yes. Following the 'commander's orders, I kept any socializing to a minimum. On top of that, he had me take mood and hormonal suppressors to make me more pliable, so I don't have all that much social experience. I've been doing what I can to become more... myself, in the last 3 years, but even with Misato's help it's not always... easy."

Yuria took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. By gods, she would help this woman be happy or die trying. Having decided that, she put on a smile as she answered. "Well, now you have another friend here to help! And I will do everything I can." With a smile of her own that made her friend's heart skip one, perhaps several, beats, Ayanami nodded.

"Thank you, Yuria. I believe you, you've been very kind and attentive to me ever since we met. Although..." With her expression changing to slightly mischievous, she continued. "It'd be difficult for you to help with making me 'normal', because we have had this entire conversation with you sitting upside down."

While that would sound like an insult to some, in the time they've had together, both Misato and Rei learned that Yuria was _weird_ , she was _aware_ she was weird, and if anything, she _enjoyed_ and was _proud_ of it.

Crossing her arms and pouting on mock hurt, the Third Child was having none of it. "Hey, I said I was going to help, not that I'd make you _boring_. Honestly, you're unique and that makes you even more interesting. Plus, it's fun being weird." She swung her legs back and forth like if she was sitting at the edge of a pier, only she was still upside down on a couch.

"Interesting?"

The bluenette was genuinely curious at that. No one had ever told her that she was interesting. Sure, some boys back when she went to school tried to lob compliments her way, but she was most definitely not interested then. And thinking about it, not very interested now, or at least it's what she thought before she noticed how she felt...warm inside. Maybe she had changed more than she thought. Or maybe it's because it was coming from someone she genuinely cared about.

Noticing just what she had implied, the entirely human one of the duo decided to just say it like it was. No point beating around the bush or making it complicated.

"Yes, Interesting. You have a very unique look, personality, and even _feel_ about you, so it makes you even _more_ interesting than you'd already be considering you're beautiful, pleasant to talk to, and I enjoy your company." While she did tell it simply, it was still quite hard to suppress a blush and a smile from saying all that to what was, to her, a blue-haired, red-eyed goddess sitting in the carpet.

After a few moments of contemplation, said red-eyed woman hummed. "Hearing that makes me feel... warm. I...enjoy it. You are also very interesting, Yuria."

At that, the black haired pilot raised an eyebrow

"As I've mentioned, you've been nothing but kind and attentive since we met, yet gave me space whenever I needed without me even needing to ask. You blatantly care for me and do everything within your power to help make me happy. Yet at no point did you try anything untoward with me or disrespected me in any way. I very much enjoy your company as well."

At this point, Ikari was very much trying to control her rising heartbeat. This was going somewhere, and she was both scared and excited to find out where.

"I have also seen you acting in very similar ways towards the Major." At hearing that, Yuria's stomach turned to ice. _This_ is where everything went to shit in these situations. "You seem to care for her and enjoy her company, and vice-versa." Rei continued. "As do I. This arrangement is...very agreeable." She finished with a warm smile that caught the Third completely off-guard.

Hold your horsebirds, _agreeable_? Did she mean it in a friendly way? Did she mean it in a romantic way? Ayanami _had_ said she didn't have any experience regarding love, so... what?

Yuria Ikari was _extremely_ confused.

However, she was not to be able to wallow in her confusion, for the last part of the trio arrived at the apartment just then. "I'm hooome." Katsuragi's voice seemed like she had spent the whole day carrying boulders, and given that both other woman had seen the _mountains_ of paperwork that the poor Major had to file after each Angel battle, that was not too off the mark.

Seeing just two waddling feet up in the air when she arrived however, Misato's interest was _very_ piqued. Putting on her cat smile, she let out in her sultriest voice.

"Oh my, I'm not sure what you two are doing there, but I think I wish to join~~."

This was enough to turn Yuria's face roughly the colour of a certain Eva she hadn't seen yet, shouting her friend's name in protest. What she didn't expect was what her _other_ friend decided to say.

"By all means, you'd be _very_ welcome, Major." At that Ikari just freezed for a second. Did _Ayanami_ just joked about doing a _threesome_ with her and _Misato_?. Did she just hear Rei's _Sexy_ intonation? However, she didn't have much more time to think about that as the sheer shock had taken her off-balance, promptly making her fall off the couch.

The laughter of two at seeing the Pilot of Evangelion Unit 01 sprawled on the carpet with a bewildered look on her face was soon joined by a third. Yuria knew when she was defeated, so no point in not joining in. She'd try to understand all that happened later. Maybe in the shower.

 _Probably_ in the shower.

* * *

In the depths of the Sea of Japan, a being awakened. He who ruled the seas. He who was tasked with once and for all divide the duos of Shadows that were trying to converge.

He who was called Gaghiel had awakened, and he would _hunt._

* * *

Mari stretched as she looked over the sea from the deck of the carrier _Over The Rainbow_. Today would be the last day of their journey, both their Evas would safely arrive in Japan after being cooped up for 3 days in the bowels of the ship. She enjoyed the sea, but it was starting to get old. Plus, she'd finally meet the Third in person, with whom she'd been exchanging messages with. And as if on cue, the raid sirens started blaring to life on every single ship on the fleet.

As she turned around to head to the command bridge, Asuka was already running towards her with plugsuits in hand.

"Angel coming in fast at bearing 45, straight for us. Seems like it's trying to intercept." She blurted out, quickly throwing her wife the pink and white garment and pulling her by her hand into the lower decks.

"Well, and here I was thinking it was going to be a calm arrival." Tightening her hand on Asuka's for a second, she smiled as her partner looked at her.

"Let's go fishing, love."

* * *

So here it is, the very late 5th Chapter! Once again, I am very sorry I took so long to write this, but I've been incredibly blocked recently.

Next chapter should _not_ take nearly as long. I may also release a One-Shot before chapter 6 comes out, and it's about a couple that I like but very rarely see.

Tribicel: Fuyutsuki is very much in this story, he just hasn't had much time to shine yet. But fear not, he very much _will_.

As always, please review if you can! It helps and motivates me a lot. If you want to be warned whenever I upload a chapter, please follow me or the story!

Ciao!


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